‘At presentation of 2022 report: NW Public Independent Conciliator vows to pursue mission.

Tamfu made the assurance Tuesday March 21. This was during a press briefing in Bamenda. The briefing was dedicated to the presentation of the institution’s 2022 activity report.

The report touched on what the PIC did in 2022, challenges encountered and recommendations to boost work in 2023.

More community actions, he said, would be carried out to clarify the populace on the role and competences of the Regional Assembly, City Council and subdivisional councils on issues such as waste management and issuance of building permits.

PIC’s 2022 activities

He stated that the organisation held sensitisation sessions in 18 council areas in 2022. Within the same year, Tamfu said, his office received and treated 44 complaints, organised capacity building seminars for stakeholders and community based actors and two mass media sensitisation campaigns. In 2022, he said the organisation also engaged in information gathering on citizen’s perception of its functioning.

Challenges across the region

Discoveries made in the findings Tamfu told reporters, show that the population see local authorities as managing councils as a one-man entity.

He also mentioned the slow devolution of powers, inadequate resources, late disbursement of funds to councils and the PIC among others.

Regional and municipal councils, Tamfu declared, “encounter many challenges and difficulties in the exercise of their functioning caused by the high risk and insecurity staff are exposed to in the region”. 

He also noted that the implementation of recommendations of the major national dialogue is slow.

There is also the challenge of some supervisory authorities who don’t master their role and the absence of man power.

He said the population lacks information on the decentralisation process in the North West Region.

Specific constraints

Tamfu further disclosed that, the budget of his institution in 2022 was disbursed only on August 30, 2022.

He also decried " the high level of insecurity” in the North West Region which he said made the work of his office difficult.

Some local authorities, he told the press, are reluctant to accept the independence of PIC.

The institition’s organizational chart and salary scale have not been approved. This Tamfu said is retarding the recruitment of workers. The terrible road network of the North West Region, he added, made things difficult in 2022.

What is needed to right the wrongs?

Among several recommendation in its report, the PIC of the North West Region called for inclusive consultation with the population by the Regional Council and municipal councils.

The institution has also recommended the putting in place of a code of conduct to guide the functioning of regional and local councils.

The institution also prescribed the "spatial distribution of employment opportunities to ensure equitable representation”.

Councils, PIC added, must look for alternative income opportunities to raise resources for development projects.

There was also a call for supervisory authorities to respond speedily to council deliberations. This, the office of the PIC said, would speed up development. Regional delegates attended the report presentation ceremony.