13, May 2019

Ambazonia: Manyu County gov’t revealed 0

After months of hard-work and commitment, the people of Manyu County in the Southern zone of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia now have a functional county government led by Sessekou Dr Peter Ako. The extraordinary set-up is made up of Executive and Legislative arms and has been in effect since the 5th of May 2019. The Executive arm of the government is headed by the County Chair and a small cabinet. The Legislative arm of this structure has a lower house of Forty Representatives with ten from each Local Government Area (LGA). The Upper chamber is the Senate body of Sixteen Senators by way of four from each Local Government Area. Manyu County, which is one of the strategic and influential counties in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has four Local Government areas; Akwaya, Mamfe Central, Upper Banyang and Eyumojock.

The County Senate is significant and designed to check the powers of the county chair and cabinet. The county chair is elected by the Senate and all appointees to the cabinet are vetted by this body. The position of County Chair is held for a term of one year non-renewable and rotates around the LGAs.  In creating this structure, the people of Manyu believe that the slogan of Independence Now and Politics Later is old, worn and inane. The belief in Manyu is that one can have good and accountable governance during a struggle. This structure is deliberate to avoid at county level the abuses of power and funds that occurred at national level.

Ever since the Interim Government of Ambazonia encouraged the establishment of a county by county system of government and self-defence, the challenge for all thirteen counties in the country has been to form a workable platform and structure. Previously, there were many Manyu platforms, Whatsapp groups, meetings that purported to represent the entire county. But, this new structure which unites all in the county is the best and most effective workable platform to govern a challenging but promising county.

The setup has a central County Treasury led by a Treasury Board. This is intended to centralise the collection of funds with the Senate having oversight powers on all its practices. Self-defence which is paramount at this time has one county commander who controls all the units in the county. This solves the issue of duplication and rivalry amongst self-defence groups. The overwhelming response from all the members of the committee that worked tirelessly to put the structure in place was that their goal was to attain good governance and accountability in the county. Accountability and Good Governance will deliver Self-defence which makes attaining the goal of independence quicker. Other notable positions in the cabinet are County Secretary and Communications/Press Secretary. As soon as these positions get populated following the senate vetting procedure, official announcements will be communicated to the general public.

Over the next few days, Sessekou Dr Peter Ako and his new cabinet intend to alert Manyu indigenes around the globe about this great structure to encourage them to register with their respective LGAs. Upon registration, official notifications will be communicated to all vis-à-vis county policies and donations for resources needed to fund the Ambazonia struggle. The County Treasury Board is currently working on an electronicpayment platform to synchronise collections intended to make financial reporting easier and respectable.  In coming up with this structure, Manyu has concreted the way for other counties to follow.

By Sessekou Asu Isong