By Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon.
The Director of General Affairs, Kange Elinge, of the Southwest Development Authority, SOWEDA, has said the development of the rural communities in the Region remains top on their agenda. He told the press at the close of the 28th Ordinary Session of the SOWEDA Board of Directors, which took place in Buea, recently.
“We are an integrated rural development institution, with projects related to the development of the rural sector of the Southwest Region,” he said.
Elinge mentioned they are preoccupied with the promotion of agricultural activities, road infrastructure, health services and all that will put a smile on the faces of the people in the rural communities. To achieve their goal, he added; “We distribute planting materials, open enclave areas, provide potable water, assist health centres and via the Rumpi Project, we have built village banks and more to alleviate poverty in the rural world.”
Kange Elinge Director of General Affairs SOWEDA
On their 2012 activities, the SOWEDA executive outlined the distribution of improved planting materials in the agricultural sector. These include; maize seeds, cassava stems, yams, beans and plantain suckers. In the domain of road infrastructure he said; “We carried out the rehabilitation of two major roads in Ndian Division, especially on the roads leading to Ekondo Titi, Ekite-Balue and Ngolobolo. Each measured 8kms. These are areas that for the past ten years, they have not seen a vehicle but with a small car, you can easily access those localities now.”
SOWEDA Board Chair Noah Mbongo Molongo
According to Elinge, SOWEDA’s major difficulty is the government’s subvention that comes in bits. “Our budget is voted but there is a delay in the disbursement, followed by a discrepancy in what is voted and what is allocated to us. For instance, in 2012 it is sixty percent of what we voted that was given to us. Hence, it is difficult for us to realise our activities in its entirety,” he said.
Like other government sponsored institutions, SOWEDA is into the programme budgeting for their 2013 activities. “We have drawn a budget that covers from 2013 – 2015. This is a three-year-programme that will entail our major operations; production and distribution of planting materials, rehabilitation of some farm to market roads and provision of health facilities to the needy areas,” he noted.
Earlier, at the opening of the session, SOWEDA Board Chair, Noah Mbongo Molongo expressed regrets on the absence of a key development player in the Region, the Southwest Farmers’ Cooperative Union, SOWEFCU, saying the restructuring of the Union and the election of a new team have been nullified by a recent court decision. “Now, it is the responsibility of the Southwest Regional Delegation of Agriculture and Rural Development to organise fresh elections,” he added.
Molongo was upbeat on a possible Rumpi Phase II Project that is being guided by the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development. He will be corroborated by Elinge who indicated that the government of Cameroon has also written to funding bodies like; the ADB, the Islamic Bank and the Japanese government for a possible funding. “On the ground in the Region, we are also into a workshop for pre-project documentation, which will be made available to whoever is ready to fund the project. It is ongoing and all the stakeholders across the six divisions of the Southwest Region are involved so as to come out with the actual needs of the population that will be presented to the funding body,” he said.
