Douala City Mayor strengthens social dialogue with settler communities.

The meetings, which took place between September 16 and 24, were largely focused on analysing development achievements and/or grievances submitted by these communities’ leaders to the City Council. 

Initiated by the City Mayor, the meetings illustrated participatory governance with regards to social dialogue and local development. It should be noted that this came after a similar exercise took place in March. 

Thereafter, community leaders presented aspects they deemed necessary to be looked into. They had expressed the desire to be active participants in the growth of the city that has served as host to them, their businesses and families. 

The City Mayor reiterated that works have been on ground to improve the living standards of the population. He insisted on some of the areas where construction works have attained certain level of completion. 

The issue of road infrastructure was particular with the Bamileke community. Their leader, Prince Emmanuel Ngassa Happi, praised the efforts made by the City Mayor, while highlighting the specific expectations of residents. 

He was, however, not pleased with the carefree manner in which waste is being managed across the city and the degrading state of roads connecting neighborhoods. 

To this, Dr Roger Mbassa Ndine tried to reassure by stating that “Douala is under construction”, emphasising the importance of close collaboration to achieve the expected results. 

The City Mayor, again urged the people, whom he called collaborators, to assist in reporting any act of vandalism that could mar initiatives put in place to restore cleanliness of the city. He said the Douala clean city project warrants the involving of everyone irrespective of their region of origin. 

On his part, Pastor Robert Kamte, one of the participants at the meeting, said: “We hope that God will give our leaders the capacity and goodwill to improve Douala, maintain cleanliness, fix our roads so that we don't feel abandoned".

Participants recommended involving the community in the various activities and raising awareness among key targets such as places of worship, traditional chiefdoms and unions. 

Other suggestions and complaints were presented to the City Mayor, who acknowledged to have taken note of these proposals for the benefit of urban planning.  

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3246 of Tuesday October 01, 2024