Tombel councilors forgive Mayor Rose
Ngassa’s sins
A new atmosphere of calm and serenity now
reigns in the Tombel council as mayor Rose Ngassa has finally and humbly sued
for peace with the municipal councilors. Before now the mayor was the target of
a powerful wave of accusations of incompetence, corruption, absenteeism and
one-man-show.
By Johnson Batuo back from Tombel
 |
| Mayor Rose Ngassa |
The mayorese of the Tombel Council, Rose
Ngassa, is gradually mending fences with the councilors of the council. Ngassa
is said to have reconciled with the councilors thus ushering in a new dawn of
peace and serenity in the rural but cosmopolitan council area.
This
new spirit was evident during the recent council session aimed to examine the
administrative, management and stores account accounts of the council for 2015.
Contrary
to past sessions which were usually characterized by bitterness, rancor and
walk-outs, the recent session was unique by every consideration and standard.
The councilors conducted themselves orderly like elected people’s
representatives, talked with maturity, focused on the development of their
council area and debated with a constructive sense of purpose.
The
atmosphere was convivial and the deliberations followed the norms of every
organized society. It was easily one of the most productive council sessions
since Rose Ngassa became mayor of Tombel some 8 years ago, observers commented.
As
to the matter of the day, the mayor presented a balance sheet of her
stewardship which included extension of electricity to neighbouring villages;
rehabilitation of farm to market roads; refurbishing of the Tombel grandstand;
award of scholarships to meritorious students and pupils and assistance to
hospital and other vulnerable groups of the municipality.
The
mayor blamed the slow execution of projects in the municipality to unscrupulous
contractors who have executed barely 4 out of a total of 23 contracts awarded,
and this despite warnings from the SDO who is the supervisory authority of
councils in KupeMuanenguba.
The Mayor was however pleased to note that
the coming of the Tenders’ Board will henceforth address the problem of late
award of contracts as well as ensure regular appraisal of the quality of jobs
done by contractors.
Feeling
very satisfied with the work done so far to develop the municipality, Mayor
Rose Ngassa noted that much has been done. But she at once regretted that
revenue collections are still very poor and much needs be done to ameliorate
the situation. She beefed up her case by saying that out of the expected FCFA
370 million from revenue sources only about FCFA 35 million has been recovered.
About the realization rate of the 2015 budget,
the mayor talked of a 52.29% realization rate which she admitted was not
satisfactory enough. She therefore enjoined councilors and staff of the council
to redouble their efforts.
Summarizing
the day’s activities, a smiling and very satisfied SDO, QuetongHanderson wasted
no time to describe the session as ‘the smoothest eve. He hailed the councilors
for keeping aside unnecessary wrangling and focusing on development issues. He
urged the councilors to keep up the new spirit so as to ensure a more fruitful
last two years of their mandate.
“I
am particularly elated at the new spirit of unity, love and cooperation that
now reigns in the Tombel council. I hope to see it grow for the interest of the
common man and woman in Tombel,” the SDO said.
No comments:
Post a Comment