Clean City Contest: Nkambe Council grabs 2nd prize.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Célestine Ketcha Courtès, pronounced the results of the 10 cleanest municipalities in the country. 

This was during celebration marking the 38th edition of World Habitat Day. It was staged under the theme: “Engaging youths to create a better urban future”.

The ceremony was attended by several members of government, representatives of international organisations, members of diplomatic corps, regional, municipal and local administrative, political, religious and traditional authorities.

The Mayor of Nkambe Council, Musa Shey Nfor, mounted the podium to receive a cheque of 60 million FCFA, after Nkambe was ranked second cleanest town in the country. 

The municipal authority also received another cheque of 1.5 million FCFA from waste management company, HYSACAM, for the milestone. 

Award fruits of collective efforts

Speaking to The Guardian Post shortly after the ceremony, Mayor Musa Shey Nfor said the award was the fruits of the peace reigning in the municipality and collective efforts from inhabitants, especially religious, traditional, administrative authorities as well as women and the youths. 

“The most important ingredient to good work is peace…we started to work with all the stakeholders to ensure that we have minimum peace in my municipality. Having achieved that main ingredient, which is peace, we put in place a strategy to work. The strategy consisted of bringing together all the stakeholders and engaging a lot of mobilisations,” he explained. 

He said after bringing all stakeholders on board, the council also embarked on the strategy of proximity, where everybody was involved.

“So, it was a very inclusive strategy that brought us here,” he said.

The feat, the mayor said, is not surprising, as the council had emerged in 2022, first in the North West Region and the 10th nationwide, as well as retained the top position in North West in 2023 and was also ranked on the 6th position nationwide.

“This year, we have progressed to the second, which means that you can see the consistent coherent efforts being made and rewarded,” Mayor Musa Shey said. 

Nkambe eyeing first position nationwide 

The municipal authority said Nkambe Council has not adopted a robust hygiene and sanitation campaign because of awards, but stated that the council plans to move to the first position nationally. 

“…being clean is just more than a competition, it’s a way of life and it is our DNA. So, we are just going to continue to do the good work that we are used to doing,” the mayor said. 

He said Nkambe at the moment is the second cleanest city but not the most beautiful, reason they have put hands on deck to achieve such a feat.

“…by next year, maybe in addition to being the cleanest town, we will also be the most beautiful town,” he said. 

This, the mayor added, will easily be made possible because of the ongoing Ring Road. 

Mayor Musa Shey Nfor explained that the 61.5 million FCFA won will be injected into the municipality through projects to be implemented under the 2025 Public Investment Projects, PIP. 

Dedicates award to population 

Mayor Musa Shey Nfor dedicated yesterday's award to the peace-loving population of Nkambe for federating forces behind the council for the realisation of the achievement. 

“…it is a collective effort which has brought everybody together. When a house is united, it will always go places. It is to the entire population, the religious, administrative, traditional authorities, youth, women or buyam-sellams…everybody,” the mayor said. 

He seized the opportunity to re-echo the message to his population that with “peace as an ingredient, every other thing will follow”.

He urged other municipalities, especially those in the North West and South West Regions, still facing challenges in waste collection and waste transformation, to “do everything to encourage being peaceful,” for the rest to follow. 

He also appealed to other municipal authorities to embrace field work so as to better connect with the population. 

“…the job of a mayor under decentralisation is not the same job in the office. It is a job on the field. Once the population see you on the field, they will react." 

Zoom on other projects reaslised 

Mayor Musa Shey Nfor also seized the opportunity to throw light on key projects realised since coming to office as Mayor in 2020. 

He said with alternative funding through the Special Council Support Fund for Mutual Assistance, FEICOM, the council has greatly addressed the issue of electricity in Nkambe by putting in place solar lighting in the town. 

He said the council has also engaged a project to address the issue of potable water in the municipality since the departure Cameroon Water Utilities Corporation, CAMWATER.

Mayor Musa Shey also disclosed that the council has addressed the infrastructure in the area of school, health and embarked on series of income generating projects in the domain of agriculture to address issues of food insecurity since the municipality host thousands of IDPs. 

“In summary, we have done projects in virtually all the domains, cutting across projects that bring social amenities, to reduction of poverty, to improving on the security, to education,” he stated. 

Close of weeklong activities 

The celebration of the World Habitat Day yesterday, put an end to weeklong activities officially launched on September 30 by Minister Ketcha Courtès, with aim to find innovative solutions for youth engagement in building a sustainable urban future. 

She had used the launching to harp on the Clean Cities Competition, which ranks the ten cleanest municipalities in the country and awards substantial bonuses, encourages municipalities to invest in sustainable waste management practices. 

During the week, Ebolowa served as the nation’s habitat capital, hosting thematic presentations, conferences, and roundtables, which were led by UN-Habitat officials. 

The activities also aimed to fostering dialogue on the future of living in urban cities and focus on practical solutions that involve youth in urban development initiatives.

The minister had explained that the rotation of the hosting of the event is an approach meant to bring about balance in local development and boost territorial marketing.

Ebolowa’s hosting came after the cities of Garoua, Bertoua, Douala, and Yaounde. 

The minister also emphasised on the importance of urban cleanliness, hygiene, and sanitation as they celebrate the 38th edition of the WHD. 

Representatives from the United Nations, UN-Habitat, mayors, and administrative, political, and traditional authorities of the South Region also lived the closing ceremony.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3253 of Tuesday October 08, 2024