Nkambe Council Installation Tidbits

(NewsWatch Cameroon)-As the new executives of the Nkambe council who were elected on October 16, 2013 were being installed by Donga Mantung SDO on Saturday December 7, 2013 at the Fon Ibrahim Jabfu grandstand in Nkambe, NewsWatch took interest in some of the ‘invisible’ events that marked the installation.

CNYC Steals Show

The Donga Mantung Divisional bureau of the Cameroon National Youth Council (CNYC) pinched the show during the installation of the Nkambe council executives. Elected on Tuesday November 19, 2013, the bureau was presented to the Donga Mantung administration by its president elect, Marcel Abanda. The Donga Mantung CNYC president elect used the opportunity given them at the installation ceremony to announce that two of his bureau members have been elected into the regional bureau of the council for the North West. The executive shook hands and posed for photos with the SDO for Donga Mantung and his etat major.

Councilors Installed Without Insignias

Though the SDO explained that insignias will be given to the councilors when they will be available, many people are of the opinion that the councilors have not been given full powers. The SDO said the insignias were limited but did not say why in other parts of the country, there were no problems whereas in Nkambe insignias were in short supply. However, the absence of the insignias did not affect the grandeur of the event as the councilors happily received bouquets of flowers and posed for posterity photos with the administration, family and friends.

Blackouts Blight Installation Gala

One of the first challenges Paul Ngabir will face as mayor of the Nkambe council will be to restore the epileptic electricity supply of the town. As if to welcome him into office, blackouts almost disrupted the SDO’s installation speech - a situation that was rescued thanks to a standby generator. The same scenario was witnessed in a gala the council organized to welcome the new executives at the BAPCCUL hall in Nkambe. An inhabitant of Nkambe joked that they are not surprised when there are blackouts in the town – rather, they are often astonished when there is electricity.

Former Mayor ‘imperceptible’

Though present at the installation ceremony of his successor, Mangoh Jones Tanko, the former mayor of the Nkambe council was virtually invisible. Unlike elsewhere where the outgoing mayor poses for a photo with his or her successor, Mangoh neither greeted (in public) nor posed for a photo with his successor, Ngabir Paul Bantar. He had however posed for photos with Mr. Ngabir and his deputies on October 16 as he signed out of the council. Mangoh Jones Tanko headed the Nkambe council for 17years under the banner of the leading opposition party, the Social Democratic Front (SDF) of Ni John Fru Ndi.