Fruits of hard-work: Bamenda II Council seals cooperation agreement with Brampton City Council in Canada.

The Mayor of Bamenda II Council, Chenwi Peter, signed for his council while Mayor Patrick Brown signed for Brampton City Council. 

The areas of cooperation between the two Councils will include, but not limited to; manpower and human resources development, agriculture, education, waste management, hygiene and sanitation, tourism, rural development. 

It will also include environment and climate change, road maintenance, technological development and general council management. 

In his presentation at the Brampton City Council Hall, the Mayor of Bamenda II Council, Chenwi Peter, enumerated certain concerns in his municipality which require urgent attention. 

These include assisting school children and encouraging them to return to school through the construction and refurbishment of classrooms, as well as equipping schools and providing them with didactic materials; construction, refurbishment and equipment of Health Centres; construction of shelters for Internally Displaced Persons and others in need and expansion of the Equipment Pool of Bamenda II Council with the acquisition of a Grader and Excavator. 

Mayor Chenwi Peter also expressed the desire for a win-win relationship with the City of Brampton. He noted the fact that the people of Brampton City will benefit the following from his Municipality, amongst others: “Deployment of manpower from Bamenda II Municipality for the agriculture sector in Brampton, provision of artifacts for museums within the City of Brampton, provision of some agricultural products from Bamenda II Municipality and provision of Quartzite and other minerals”. 

Meanwhile, following the signing of the cooperation agreement, Mayor Chenwi Peter was awarded a Certificate of Recognition by the Brampton City Council, symbolising the enduring bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two Councils. 

In return, Mayor Chenwi Peter adorned Mayor Patrick Brown in North West Traditional Regalia with accessories and further distributed assorted gifts to the Mayor's collaborators, Councillors and some staff of the Brampton City Council. 

On the sidelines of the sealing of the cooperation agreement, Mayor Chenwi Peter was invited to an important meeting by the promoters of the soon-to-be established African Business Centre, ABC, (first African Mall) in Brampton, Canada. He was briefed on this very innovative development that will be the first of its kind in Canada. 

During the discussions, Mayor CHENWI highlighted how Bamenda II Council could play a strategic role in ABC with products such as palm oil, coffee, natural honey, the Toghu in all its forms and varieties, corn, beans, cayenne pepper, etc., and to showcase the Made in Cameroon Label in general. 

The people of the Bamenda II Municipality will definitely be reaping the fruits of these partnerships in the not-too-distant future. 

Bamenda II delegation with Mayor Patrick Brown immortalize deal 

Flash back on journey to the agreement 

It should be noted that the journey to this cooperation agreement began in 2022, when Mayor Chenwi Peter embarked on a maiden visit to Victoriaville and Montreal in Canada in the company of other Mayors from the North West Region. This was during the holding of the Forum on Decentralised Cooperation and Development, FOCODDEV, organised by the Network for Decentralised Cooperation and Sustainable Development, better known by its French acronym, RC3D, from October 1 to 12, 2022.

Being a dynamic and results-driven Mayor person who leaves no stone unturned as far as the development of Bamenda II Municipality and the welfare of his people are concerned, Mayor Chenwi embarked on another journey to Canada a few months later in December 2022. During that visit, he opened up discussions with the City Councils of Brampton and Kitchener in the Ontario Province of Canada.

After close to two years of lobbying and exchanges between the two Councils, Thursday August 22, 2024 marked a turning point in their relationship with the signing of te cooperation agreement between Brampton City Council and Bamenda II Council.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3210 of Monday August 26, 2024