Dighambong Anthony Mvo, Wum Mayor : “We Have Lights on Major Streets”

CHOVES Loh | 01-02-2017 19:43

What projects for the Wum municipality in 2017?

The year 2017 opens a good chapter for the municipality with one of the best town halls worth about FCFA 364 million to be erected in Wum. Sand, stones and gravel have already been mobilized for the project. Construction work on the project is about to start.
How will you size up the state of the Bamenda-Wum stretch of the ring road?
The Bamenda-Wum stretch is in a sorry state. We had a very bad rainy season last year and users of that road suffered the consequences. The good news, however, is that a Service Note has been signed with the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT) responsible for rehabilitation works on the road. The Wum council is also lobbying foreign partners to help towards the construction of the road.

Since taking control of the council, what would you say are your achievements?

Since our team was officially commissioned to lead the Wum council on November 30, 2013, we have for three years been turning full circle to move the municipality forward. We now have street lights on major Wum streets. We have constructed an impressive number of culverts, offered roofing sheets to some 20 primary schools in the municipality and created a website that opens the municipality to the world. We have been regularly grading streets and we are looking forward to acquiring some two trucks soon. The council area is blessed with some six quarries that offer good laterite for road works. That is why a recent council session voted to purchase equipment to disenclave some two of our villages. Without roads linking the capital, we are forced to go through neighbouring Menchum valley Subdivision.

What are the plights of the population?

The poor road network features prominently on the list of problems. There is also poverty and unemployment. The entire municipality does not have any industry to give youth employment opportunities. We are still expectant that the announced Menchum hydro dam project will come with plenty of opportunities. Aghem indigenes have been in pain since the closure of the then Wum Area Development Authority (WADA). The creation of MIRUDEP under MIDENO has not succeeded as a solution to the closure of WADA. MIRUDEP grows maize and exports, leaving little for Wum.

Little is heard about farmer-grazer conflicts that used to rock the council area. What accounts for this?

A good governance strategy was introduced to check the unorthodox management of farmer-grazer conflicts by some administrators in the municipality. We have educated and encouraged inhabitants to the level that farmers now keep cattle and grazers cultivate. Both have been educated to know that they are condemned to live together. Local initiatives have inspired farmers and grazers to have their conflicts handled by the council and traditional authorities rather than settling them in the courts.

Any expectations from government as concerns the municipality’s progress?

Prosperity will come to Wum if the Bamenda-Wum road is constructed and the Wum Area Development Authority (WADA) is revamped. Once the Menchum power project goes operational, it will be another stimulus for employment opportunities.