"Noni People Should Come together and Talk Development Irrespective of Political Affiliations"

 - Mayor Nkor Noni Council

Shey Nchanji Ndi Germanus is the Mayor of Nkor Noni Sub Division. In this Interview the Mayor touches on the challenges the Council is facing in its pursuit to meet up with the development goals of the Noni Subdivision. The Mayor explains that despite these challenges he and the team presently running the affairs of the Council are struggling in the best way they can to overcome these challenges and move ahead with the development that Noni urgently needs. He equally States that what is holding Noni behind is the divisiveness and calls on all development stakeholders to  drop their differences and sit around the table and talk development. He was Interviewed by Francis Ekongang.

Excerpts

You took over an office that certainly had some problems. These problems are also compounded by the Anglophone Crisis. How are you managing things under these circumstances?

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We met many challenges when we took over the Nkor - Noni Council. One of these challenges is the crisis that is presently wreaking havoc in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon. This has seriously affected the Noni Subdivision. I say seriously because the camps of the Separatist Fighters that were set up are still there and the Forces of Law and Order have not been there to dislodge them. As a result, we are facing a lot of problems in penetrating the area and getting to our people. 

Secondly, our area is not good as far as the road network is concerned. However, they are manageable and we can also walk on foot or on horse back for those who have horses. Motor Bikes are also a useful form of transportation but are facing a lot of Security Challenges. When Separatist Fighters hear the sound of a bike they come out to the road to stop the bike and sometimes maltreat the persons riding them. Thirdly our population compared to what used to happen before when we had elections was not together. They have been scared by the Separatist Fighters and many of them did not come out to vote.  Some came out to vote but we did not succeed to get the number that we used to have before. They were scared of the Separatist Fighters and remained in their homes. These fighters have their informants and any time that there is an event they usually make sure that it doesn't take place. Sometimes organizers of events and those who participate in them are picked up from their homes thanks to information given by informants. These challenges have made it difficult for us to be able to come close to our people. Another problem is that our Nfons and elite are not together. This makes it difficult to be able to carry out any initiative successfully.   I thank those elites and Traditional Rulers who have always stood by me. Finances too was a big challenge. Moving from Bamenda to Noni and then moving from village to village to talk to the people has not been easy considering the limited finances. 

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Despite these challenges, you have been doing a couple of things. What are some of these things?

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Yes. We have not been sleeping. Despite the challenges we have done a lot of things. A case in point is the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Government came out with some measures for us to implement. We tried as much as possible to implement these measures. However, we couldn't reach certain villages but I think we reached a good number of villages to create awareness on the New Coronavirus COVID-19 reminding them that it is real and not a localised disease since it is every where.  It really needed some time to make sure that the people understood that the virus is every where. I got some Finances from the Council and bought anti COVID-19 gadgets like Bucket Taps, soaps, Hand Sanitizers and face masks and took them to Noni. Some people used them while some refused to use them. We were not able to take them to certain villages. A village like Djottin for example. It was not easy to get to Djottin or to Bamti. A very interesting incident that occurred was that when I was transporting these things to Noni, the Separatist Fighters seized some of them and I thought they were going to throw them away but they said they were going to use them. I told them to go and use them. We are all Cameroonians despite what they are doing. 

When I just took over, the wind took off the roof of the Council building. I struggled and we had to put it back. I had to do this to prevent the whole building from deteriorating since it was during the raining season. I have built some culvets and bought some Face Thermometers. I have bought ten of them with the hope of distributing them to all the Health establishments and churches in Noni. These will be used to take the temperatures of the people since high temperature is one of the tell tale signes of the infection. We will keep on doing this and we will not get tired. Infact the last time we had a Council Session we came up with a resolution on a couple of things that we had to do. One of the things is to build a Council Hotel. We have this road that links Tolon in Oku and Noni and further links up with Misaje and Nkambe. We think that having a good Council Hotel will bring in some revenue. There are people who come in for events in Noni and are forced to leave the same day because they don't have where to sleep. This project should start pretty soon. We also plan to open a ranch. We have enough land for this project and we think opening a ranch will fetch enough revenue for the council. People will be employed to take care of the ranch. When I brought in the idea of a ranch some people complained of theft but I think there is no business without a risk. We are also going to open a Palm Plantation which will help us produce Palm Oil. We have also secured land for the Council Cemetery. When I talk of a Cemetery I mean a modern one that can even serve as a Tourist Site. 

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You certainly have a message for the Noni people who are working in divided ranks. Some people are of the opinion that NODECA has not been living up to the expectations of the Noni people.

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I call on the Noni People to rally behind their mayor. They should sit around the table and talk as one irrespective of party affiliations. I don't care whether you are SDF or UNDP. All I want is for Noni People to come together and talk development. We have to behave like the children of one person and dialogue in all honesty. Don't simply talk because you want to defend your party but because you want development in Noni. I am of the CPDM but most importantly I am from Noni. If it comes to getting an idea from somebody who is SDF, I will go and listen to him. We need to use anyone with talent and who is potential tool for development. Let the Nfons and the elite be united. If they are united, we will certainly move ahead. I welcome criticism. People should tell me what I am doing which is wrong and equally give me suggestions on how I can have these things corrected. 

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Some quarters have complained that the Noni person some times emanates a lot of negative energy in criticism. Criticising just for the sake of criticising rather than doing so constructively.

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You can never really dictate on a person to behave in a particular manner. They are free to react in the way they want. When I listen to criticisms, I will simply get useful criticism out of all the criticisms and make use of it. Even if someone comes up with negative criticism walk up to him and enquire why he thinks something should have been done differently.  He will certainly give you a reason for criticising destructively. 

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We lost two illustrious Noni sons and maybe more that I might not know of. You certainly have a word of condolence to the Noni people.

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The loss of Nformi Alfred Forgwei, the Director of Chantier Navale and of the erswhile Mayor and Publisher of The Post Newspaper was a big blow to me personally. Nformi Alfred Forgwei has been a long time friend and we have always worked together for the development of Noni. We started this far back in Secondary School when he was in Jakiri and I used to go and meet him there and sometimes in Kumbo and we constantly talked on developing the Noni Subdivision. Considering that he was financially stable, he was someone who could go to any length to make sure that development was brought to Noni. Though some people have criticised him for not being good, I personally think he was a well behaved gentleman. He was a God fearing somebody and a developer. Up till now I feel very uncomfortable going to his Douala residence when I am in the Economic Capital. This is because I feel that if I go there I might unconsciously ask for him.  As for Mr Francis Wache, many people don't know how close we were. His Grand Mother was my elder sister and furthermore we schooled together at the Minor Seminary, Bishop Rogans College at Small Soppo in Buea. When I interacted with Mr Wache at home, people made statements insinuating that I was either dragging him to the CPDM or that he was dragging me to the SDF. We just laughed over it. I regret so much because these people were burried out of the village. I have a dream that one day their bodies will be exhumed and brought to the village. I call on their families to stay calm and take it the way God has decided. These are not the only people in Noni who died. There are many more. The Truck Pushers, the butchers, the wine tappers, the farmers and many more. The ones that were killed in Nkor and Lasn. They all contributed to the development of Noni in one way or the other. The only Sports personality that we had who went up the Cameroon Mountain and won prizes was slaughtered in cold blood. We have lost many more people and to their families I say they should take heart.

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