Did two former Mayors in Boyo embezzle money meant for tree planting, sell council hilux illegally?

The former Mayors of Fundong and Njinikom councils in Boyo division for the last council mandate, both of the Social Democratic Front, SDF, party have been requested to account for the finances allocated by the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife to plant trees in their council forests in 2013, and also on how the Njinikom Council Hilux was sold out without a deliberation by councillors as the law authorises.

Kuoh Johnson Ngam who served as Mayor of the Fundong Council between 2009 and 2013, has to give an explanation on how the sum of 5MFCFA disbursed to the Fundong council to plant trees by the Ministry of Forestry in 2013 was withdrawn from the councils account at Afriland First Bank on the 3^rd of October 2013 just three days after the SDF lost the 2013 Municipal elections in Fundong to the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement, CPDM party.

Mayor Denis AwohNdang had during a public hearing to present a one year balance sheet of the new council administration under his leadership last 16^th October 2014, said he could not understand how money meant for tree planting was taken out of the bank after the municipal elections of September 30, 2013. He is quoted as saying that after learning from his colleague of Wum council that he had already planted  trees with money disbursed to his council, he(Denis AwohNdang) went finding out from the Regional delegate of Forestry whether the funds for the Fundong council for the same exercise had not been transferred to the account of the council. He was presented documents indicating the finances had been disbursed already, but was surprised when a bank statement printed out to him indicated the money had been withdrawn.. The project as Boyo Eye gathered was not executed in Fundong in 2013 seemingly because funds made available got missing along the way.

Mayor Kuoh Johnson Ngam reacts

Contacted to comment on the accusations levied against him, former Mayor Kuoh Johnson attested to the fact that he and the Municipal Treasurer (MT) co-signed the voucher that was used to withdraw the money at the council’s account at Atlantic Bank. He said the money withdrawn by the MT was actually deposited in the council treasury in Fundong. He even brandished a copy of a statement of income and expenditure for the council in the month of October 2013 which showed as one of the sources of income for the council, Royalties from Forestry and Wildlife at 5MFCFA.Kuoh Johnson said he received a query from the SDO requesting him to explain how the money was used and he did, but was still waiting. The question Boyo Eye will subsequently be looking forward to answering is, if the money was actually deposited in the council treasury, how comes the trees were not planted and also why is Mayor Ndang complaining that the money disappeared along the line?

The Njinikom council did not score a pass mark either; in the implementation of this same project because barely 300.000FCFA of the 5MFCFA disbursed was used to plant some few trees. These situations caused the officials of the Ministry of Forestry to take a decision to suspend the two councils from the project, but the case of Fundong was given consideration after the present Mayor, Denis AwohNdang was able to convince them through negotiations.

The Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife in a bid to assist councils in Cameroon to build community forests which is within the framework of the decentralisation process, has been allocating finances for tree planting, and the Mayors of the concerned councils have usually been charged with the implementation of the project.

Mayor NgongChiatoh David on his part as Mayor of the Njinikom council from 1999 to 2013has unanswered questions as to how he sold out the council hilux for 380.000FCFA without the signature of the Supervisory authority on any deliberation adopted by councillors to that effect. Boyo Senior Divisional Officer Oum II Joseph had during the 2015 budgetary session of the Njinikom Council requested to know the where about of the said council vehicle and was told that it was sold out. The first deputy Mayor Julius Peter Tohmentain who served in the same capacity during the last council mandate said during the session that councillors never voted any deliberation to get the council hilux sold out. The SDO had in effect ordered Mayor Terence Chah Bam to forward a report to his office on the matter. The said hilux was impounded by the brigade commander of the Gendarmerie for Njinikom on Wednesday 3rd December 2014 on the SDOs instructions.

Contacted to comment on the state of affairs surrounding the sale of the hilux, former Mayor NgongChiatoh David said there are documents showing that the vehicle was sold following a council deliberation, but documents which Boyo Eye did not see nor have they been presented to the administration. Investigations are on, to get the truth of the matter.