Rebuilding the Bakassi Peninsula: The lies as told by CPDM Beltha Ndoh Bakata ³

The 19th Session of the Bakassi Projects Follow-Up Committee held in the Prime Minister’s Office on August 18, 2016 reported Cameroon Tribune.

Three years after the establishment of Cameroon’s total sovereignty over the Bakassi Peninsula following the June 12, 2006 Green Tree Accord, barons of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate are reportedly expressing a kind of satisfaction in government circles for what they claim is the effective implementation of social, economic, security and administrative projects in the zone handed over by the Federal Republic of Nigeria after the October 10, 2002 International Court of Justice ruling.

The Biya regime and its propaganda machinery revealed in 2015 that over FCFA 30 billion had been invested in the area since 2008. They added that more investments worth over FCFA 722 million have since been added in 2016. However, this photo attached to this report as recorded for us by Cameroon Tribune does not showcase a constituency that has received huge amount of government funding.

While chairing the 19^th Session of the Coordination and Follow-up Committee for the Implementation of Priority Projects in the Bakassi Zone, on August 18, 2016, the committee’s Chairperson and Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, Bertha Ndoh Bakata, said that much indeed had been accomplished through the yearly Public Investment Budget and the FCFA 5.6 billion Special Mini Development Programme.

Bertha Ndoh Bakata who has the luxury of living in the capital city of Yaounde gave a run-down of the projects executed citing the construction of rest houses, classrooms, youth centres, fishermen’s houses, health structures, customs posts, roads and community halls, among others, in localities such as Isangele, Akwa, Idabato, Mbengmong, New Beach and Kombo-Abedimo.

She hinted that Prime Minister Philemon Yang authorised a trip of a team of five to the area in April 2016 to identify emergency projects which a Douala-based company and some Canadian investors were interested in executing.  But the images emerging from Bakassi indicates Bertha Ndoh Bakata and her mentor, Minister and Chief Dion Ngute are simply playing the CPDM game.

CPDM Beltha Ndoh Bakata betrayed herself at the tail end of her submission during the August 18 meeting by urging participants to address persistent problems such as insufficient potable water, electricity, telecommunication and roads. If 30 billion already invested in this area cannot tackle Beltha Ndoh Bakata “persistent problems” who now is fooling who here?

CPDM Beltha Ndoh Bakata called for more commitment by ministries in the implementation of the projects and the early disbursement of earmarked funds, especially as the long rainy season acts as a major impediment.

By Sama Ernest with files from Cameroon Tribune