The office of the Public Independent Conciliator for the North West has made public its 2024 annual report on the performance of councils in the region.
Examined under the accessibility of mayors and council Premises, consultation and participation of the population in Decision making, creation of Neighbourhood and village committees, citizen's involvement in the identification of council projects amongst others, the population of the 35 councils that make up the North West, used questionnaires to assess the performance of the various councils.
A total of 5,250 questionnaires were administered across the region, 150 each per council area.
Of the above number, 5,043 questionnaires were returned to the office of the PIC which were meticulously analyzed and the ranking done and submitted to the President of the Republic.
While presenting the results of the survey that were conducted towards the close of 2024, the Public Independent Conciliator for the North West, Tamfu Simon Fai highlighted the fact that some councils have made significant improvements in certain domains, while others have simply refused to change.
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On the free issuance of civil status registration documents, he said; " from the analysis, it was generally observed that at least 50 percent of respondents across all councils agreed that councils still collected money from citizens for the establishment of birth and marriage certificates as well as death certificates"
He stressed that councils have moved from the collection of the money on the table to the collection of this money under the table. A cankerworm his office will employ more measures to crack.
While appreciating the councils of Andek, Bamenda I, Nkum and Batibo for a significant drop in the collection of money for the establishment of civil status documents as compared to 2023, the PIC frowned at 27 councils still collecting money for such activity.
Tamfu Simon Fai encouraged citizens to denounce any council still perpetrating this act.
"The office of the PIC can be seized at any time if a council asks you to pay for the production of any civil service documents." He said.
With regards to the practice of unethical conduct in councils, the 2024 perception survey revealed that there was an improvement in the way councils conduct business and the way they treat users and beneficiaries. From the survey, there were little or no unethical practices in Jakiri, Fundong, Bamenda I, Njikwa, Batibo and Misaje. The perception survey found a lot of unethical practices in Belo and Widikum councils.
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In 2024, the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development, MINDDEVEL came up with the concept of the creation of village and neighbourhood committees to assist in the selection of projects. This, as a means to improve on participatory development. In the survey, respondents were asked about their involvement in the identification of council projects. Improvements in this regard were visible in Ako, Andek and Bamenda I councils, meanwhile Elak, Balikumbat and Njinikom amongst others witnessed a significant drop.
With regards to the implementation of council projects, the survey recorded a slight drop in perception of citizen's involvement in the implementation of council development projects compared to 2023. Significant improvements were recorded in Ako, Andek and Tubah meanwhile Nkor, Widikum, Bali and Fonfuka registered poor ratings.
With the government's intentions of getting the population involved in their development and owning their projects, the survey also touched on consultation and participation of the population on Decision making. Here, a large number of respondents claimed not to know their councillors and those who knew their Councillors states that they were largely unavailable. However, an improvement in the knowledge of their councillors was reported by the respondents of Misaje and Bamenda II.
Concerning consultation of the population, the situation of Bamenda I, Ako and Misaje did well meanwhile Bali, Jakiri and Balikumbat is trailing.
The Bamenda I Council also scored high in responses gathered in citizen's satisfaction and confidence in the functioning of their councils. Alongside Nkambe, Ako, Fundong and Bamenda III.
In all, Bamenda I Council, Ako, Fundong, and Nkambe council featured on the honours roll spot meanwhile Nkor, Njinikom, Belo in some instances and Balikumbat have been encouraged to do better in 2025 as the PIC will focus on good Governance.
The PIC office also observed a moment of silence for some of the local authorities lost in the course of 2024. The office cited the gruesome murder of the Second Deputy Mayor of Bamenda II, Madam Joko Freda, the killing of the second Deputy Mayor of Elak, Bongnjioh Quinta, the second Deputy Mayor of Babessi , Nkwatoh Solomon was also killed. This adds to the untimely death of Dr Ngong Innocent of Belo. These atrocities committed against municipal authorities were condemned.
The PIC has also pushed for a collaborative leadership at the helm of the North West Regional Assembly. The uneasy calm between the President and Vice President he says, the PIC has wade in to bring reconciliation for Peace and normalcy to reign.
The office of the Public Independent Conciliator in the 2024 annual report also noted the enormous difficulties under which councils are functioning in the midst of the ongoing socio-political unrest in the North West Region.
Away from just analyzing what the councils in the region did right or wrong, the office of the independent conciliator made a good number of recommendations that will permit the councils in the region, adopt the bottom-to-top approach in development, fostering good governance in their municipalities this 2025.
By
Ndi Tsembom Elvis
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