Armed conflict in NW, SW: Execution of public investment contracts questionable.

No matter how government apologists explain the "gradual return of peace" to the North West and South West Regions, the unqualified truth is that insecurity remains. That is why the government has continued to classify the two regions as "risky zones" for investors and provided tax incentives not applicable to any other region in the country.

Despite the tax break, investors are not swallowing the bait, but what is snooping is that at the end of each year mayors and regional councils authorities will claim to have executed their budget with a score of over 80 percent, even in some in localities that have been deserted as a result of the dirty conflict.

When the South West Regional Assembly met recently in Buea to evaluate projects executed last year, it emerged that they had 57 projects. By the end of the year, 50 had been executed at 100%, while five other projects are ongoing as at mid this month.

Two other projects failed to materialise in Limbe and Wabane due to unavailability of the contractors, the President of the Regional Assembly, Elango Zacheus Bakoma, disclosed. He expressed dismay at the fact that some of the projects that were not executed resulted from the failures of “ghost contractors and adventurers in the sector who do low standard jobs or disappear after winning contracts...”.

“I want to appeal to contractors of South West origin to help us develop the South West Region, because we want to avoid the issues of ghost contractors, and adventurers who come and lobby for contracts and when they are awarded, they go and sublet them. That is what killed the maternity ward project in Wabane,” he concluded.

Speaking during the meeting, the Governor of the South West Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, called on regional councillors to be present on the ground to ensure that projects they proposed are executed to the fullest.

“Regional Councillors should be present on the field, because if the state of Cameroon earmarks projects for certain localities and we are not there to follow-up, we should not come here to complain that those projects were not executed,” the governor said.

“The state had programmed for the last financial year, projects in all the Subdivisions and Divisions and according to the statistics, the projects have been executed,” he added. He, however expressed regret that most Regional Councillors had contested claims that projects were executed in their communities, without evidence to back up their arguments.

Speaking to the press after the session with the Regional Councillors, the governor said there was a lack of follow-up by elected representatives of the people.     

“We still have a problem of follow-up because some of the representatives of the population, who are the Regional Councillors, don't follow their projects. It's only when the projects have been realised that they start quarrelling amongst themselves that the projects were not well done,'' he said.

He then challenged local authorities in the Region to ensure that all projects are realised 100% on time to better the living conditions of the people.

“...the state of realisation of projects is the problem, because local authorities should make all the necessary efforts for their projects to be realised…when we look at the rate, it is still low in some localities, while state deconcentrated services have realised most of their projects. Thus the local elected authorities must take their responsibilities so that they render 100% execution of the transferred competences,” he urged Regional Assembly officials.

To ensure effective and proper project execution this year, the senior civil administrator advised all stakeholders to be on the field.

“I advise councillors to be on the field when projects are being executed, so that if there is a problem to rectify, we rectify it on time,” Okalia said.

The problem is that many of the councilors, who are targets for kidnapping, will not go to the field. Contractors who dare to take contracts in the "risky zones", if they execute them at all, do so without proper follow up.

Even in zones that are considered safe, the award of con

tracts is often not transparent to make the councillors and even inhabitants know. So how does the governor expect people to follow up the execution of a contract whose terms they do not know? Are some of the contracts not awarded clandestinely by people in authority who have family members fronting for them or later sell the contracts?

Even if the "vote holder" refuses to let the population follow up what will the governor or assembly do to call such unscrupulous officials to accountability?

Take the case of the Tiko Water project, for instance, being partly financed by the Germans.

A Follow-up Committee was duly elected but when the project was being implemented, the committee was spurned and who will be blamed if it is not executed as per specification?

The Tiko project is just one in many that are being executed, some just on paper, or badly done as many of the councillors are complaining. And what evidence does the governor want from them when some of the councillors cannot step foot in their constituencies, because of insecurity? Yet, mayors are claiming to execute investment projects 100 percent when they operate from outside their constituencies.

The President of the South West House of Assembly was right to refer to them as "ghost" contractors, but there could equally have been "ghost executions" which should be exorcised.