Chenwi Peter, Mayor of Bamenda II
Councilors of the Bamenda II Council have learnt with disbelief that workers of the council have gone for three months now without a salary.
The councilors who questioned the executive of the council and the municipal treasurer why salaries of workers have not been paid since January, found out from the MT that;
"Workers of the council have not had an advancement for the last five years, which is against the law. When I took over last year, the advancement and reclassification of workers was done but some irregularities were discovered at the level of the Finance controller of the Bamenda City Council. The council programmed another meeting bringing the finance controller, the Delegate of Labour and social security and the Municipal treasurer of Bamenda II. Unfortunately, the finance controller was out of town"
The advancement which is supposed to co-signed by the finance controller and the SDO for Mezam has stalled since February creating an unhealthy working condition at the level of the council.
Councilors brainstorming at session
Mezam SDO, Simon Emile Mooh frowned at the process.
"if there is money, why have they not been paid Mr MT? He wondered aloud"
The MT has vowed not to pay workers till the advancement is signed by the finance controller saying paying at this point will be in total illegality.
The Administrative and management accounts session of the Bamenda II Council saw a positive balance of 263 million brought forward from the 2020 budget whose income stood as 925 million and recurrent expenditure at 661 million.
The Mayor of the Municipality, Chenwi Peter encouraged the Councilors to look for other means and ways to raise revenue for the council as the budget fell below the expected 1.4 billion.
In their committee report, the Finance committee remarked that budget heads should be realistic and not exaggerated.
Despite the prevailing insecurity, the council was able to launch a stiff fight against the coronavirus, rehabilitate roads and successfully execute all the public investment projects for 2020.
This was realised without a single council vehicle.
The vehicles at the level of the council have fully depreciated. No truck for road maintenance and no service vehicle at the level of the council executive and staff to follow up projects.
This worrying situation, the Councilors noted should be fixed without any delay. A deliberation to authorize the Mayor to depose of the depreciated vehicles was passed while calling on him to engage the process of acquiring new vehicles for the council especially heavy duty trucks so as to increase revenue.
Mezam SDO was pleased with the performance of the council in 2020 and encouraged them to do better in 2021
By
Ndi Tsembom Elvis
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