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| Senator Mbella Moki |
But Senator Mbella Moki says he will not react to Mayor Ekema’s allegations, describing them as the agitations of a political juvenile.
By Macquens Balemba in Buea
In many ways Patrick Ekema Esunge, the mayor of Buea, and his predecessor, Senator Charles Mbella Moki, are brothers. Both personalities are not only of Bakweri extraction, they also hail from Buea in Fako Division of the South West Region.
However, events over time have proved that these two illustrious sons of Buea are in every way arch rivals and avowed enemies. They use every available opportunity to discredit each other, and they have continued doing so for several years now.
Political watchers in Buea in particular and in Cameroon in general, were not surprised therefore when Patrick Ekema, who is now in command at the Buea council, used the opportunity of an interview with CRTV recently, to run down Mbella Moki and discredit his honourability and his public image as a gentleman.
Commentators said the CRTV outing was not the first instance that Ekema publicly indicted Mbella Moki of wrong-doings at the council. It is said that as soon as he took over office at the Buea council over a year ago, Ekema made it an instrument of his policy to expose Mbella Moki and drag his name in mud at any opportunity. Many say Ekema does it instinctively, unrepentantly and remorselessly.
Observers say Patrick Ekema tells whoever cares to listen that far from the gentleman that Mbella Moki purports to be, and the apparently good image he portrays in public, he is, in fact, a dishonorable man.
Mayor Ekema insinuates that before vacating the council after his two mandates as mayor, Mbella Moki planted obstacles all over to make sure his would-be successor(s) fail. He averred that though he and his collaborators are aware of Mbella’s “childish manoeuvres” to frustrate their mandate, and despite the strategies they adopted to surmount the obstacles, they are still having serious headaches running the council, especially because of the huge debt burden they allege to have inherited.
“It is not normal that the bills of the previous mandates should be piled and pushed to the council only during our mandate. My accession to the helm of the council was highly contested, and we understand why the bills were accumulated and left for us to come and settle. It is because they don’t want me to be able to deliver on my campaign promises; they want to frustrate my mandate,” a seemingly troubled Patrick Ekema told prying CRTV journalists.
He continued: “I inherited a punitive mandate; punitive because all the bills owed by the council to SONEL, SNEC, CNPS and the taxation department, spanning a period of over 10 years have been piled for us to pay. Even bills owed to contractors and suppliers, some dating way back to 1996, have resurfaced only during my mandate.”
Ekema maintained that though there is continuity in administration it beats his imagination that all accumulated debts of the council should resurface only during his first year in office.
“I think there are some forces behind this influx of unpaid bills. Yet, I will not attribute it to any particular individual,” he said.
Apart from accumulated unpaid bills, Ekema said the council also owes huge debts to CNPS and the taxation department. The Buea Mayor wondered aloud how the huge debts on taxes came about in the first place. He explained that tax deductions on salaries that were done during preceding mandates had already been signed out but the money was never paid to the taxation department and CNPS.
“If these moneys were collected and never paid to the companies concerned then the moneys should be lying somewhere,” Ekema said.
Worse still, he said documents on the BOT contracts signed between the council and private investors during the previous mandate were nowhere to be found in the council archives.
He added that because the contract documents are missing it is difficult for him to know the exact terms of the contracts and for how long they will last. Ekema said some of the contractors are already claiming that their contracts with the council span a period of 99 years. He wondered why council property should be leased out for as long as 99 years.
Though Ekema Patrick did not mention the names of those he suspected of unduly syphoning council money, many said he was pointing accusing fingers at his predecessor and former boss at the council, Senator Charles Mbella Moki.
Earlier, in December 2014, during a press conference to take stock of his first year at the council, Patrick Ekema literally bundled his troubles at the council and put them on Mbella Moki’s doorsteps.
However, when we contacted Senator Mbella Moki to react to the allegations, he dismissed them with a wave of the hand. He said he would not react to what he termed the agitations of a political juvenile.
“I will not bring myself so low as to respond to his agitations; I will not allow his youthfulness to compromise the good judgment of my age and experience. I can only urge him to do his work and allow the public to judge us. I have done my work and my legacy is there for every body to see,” said a discernibly composed Mbella Moki.
The senator’s response tied with what some political commentators in Buea and Fako are saying, namely that Ekema Patrick should forget about his predecessor’s alleged undoings and concentrate on his job.
Observers say the Buea mayor should not be oblivious of the fact that at the end of his mandate he would be judged only from his performance and the projects he realized; no boby would bother to know why he was unable to do what he failed to do.
Some questioned why Ekema Patrick is so worked up about unpaid bills at the council, as though the money would be paid from his private pocket. Others simply wondered aloud if Ekema will not also bequeath unpaid bills by the time his mandate ends in five or ten years.
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