Mayor of Bangem, Mr Ekungwe Kang Christopher
The Bangem Municipality will be taking part in the 2025 national Clean City competition. To that effect the council is bracing up to ensure all is set to emerge victorious at the divisional, regional and national levels. Ahead of the competition the council in collaboration with the divisional delegation of housing and urban development, KupeMuanenguba have set up a waste recycling center.
ECO OUTLOOK’s Bangem reporter Mesumbe Nelly caught up with the Mayor of Bangem Mr Ekungwe Christopher Kang for an interview on how the council was bracing up.
EXCERPTS
1)Greetings Mr Mayor. We will like to know what this Clean city competition project is all about?
Thanks very much for taking interest in this activity. I am Ekungwe Christopher Kang, mayor of Bangem COUNCIL. Actually you are talking about the Clean Cities competition which is a national campaign. This campaign was recently launched in KupeMuanenguba division and Bangem being the divisional capital it was launched here. After that launching the Bangem Council is bracing up to do the needful so we can emerge victorious at the regional level and even nationally. In collaboration with the divisional delegation of housing and urban development, KupeMuanenguba, a waste recycling center has been created that will collect and process waste material.
So it is actually a national competition and we are doing our best at our own level to not only take part but stand out as the best
2) Does taking part in this competition mean that Bangem has not been clean?
Not at all. Cleaning of our town is a regular practice. A few years back when we participated in the clean cities competition we had an enviable position. I told the jury in Buea that Bangem does not wait for a competition to be organized before embarking in cleaning. We do that regularly cleaning. I am sure if the organizers just did an unannounced visit to the different towns and score their level of cleanliness, Bangem will still stand out.
3) So what is expected of those competing?
First of all I think nationally the government wants every town to be clean and by extension the country. That should be the essence of this competition. There are criteria that have been put in place by the committee to guide are rate the different councils, first at divisional level, regional level and national level. At our level here I expect the people of Bangem to make extra efforts so that the town looks cleaner. Bangem town is clean compared to other towns but we have to keep it clean all the time.
4)We are sure winners will be compensated.
Yes, certainly winners will be compensated. I am sure there will be prizes at the different levels( divisional, regional and national) That is why we have to work hard to make sure we grab the first prize at the divisional level and why not at the regional and national level. All we need is a level playing ground, putting all of us on the same platform without any bias. If this is done, I can tell you that Bangem will emerge at at enviable position.
5) How sustainable is this project be. Is it organized every year?
Well since this is a national competition, that will depend on the organizers. But I am sure it will be a regular exercise. At our level we are ready to take part anytime the competition is organized.
6) At one time the council started with greening of the town with planting of trees. What has become of that project?
Generally we don’t develop the municipality alone. We work with other development partners like NGOs, associations and support their different projects. A good number of them do carry out tree planting, cleaning of the town is not a small thing so we intervene when we have the means and we encourage NGO’s to intervene when they have the means.
7) What other efforts are there by the Bangem council to fight climate change.
First as a council we have our own small climate smart projects that we carry out from time to time at our own level. But the bulk of the projects is carried out with what we get as transferred projects from the Ministry of Environment and Rural development. We are working in collaboration with both the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife. Various ministries have different objectives and we work with them based on what objective they want to attain. There is much in the pipeline but because things keep changing we work accordingly.
8) Any other development message to the people of Bangem both at home and abroad?
We are encouraging sons and daughters of Bangem at home and abroad to join us develop the town. They can see the marvelous job that some of the brothers and sisters are already doing to develop the municipality apart from what the council is doing. Recently we had an example of a brother through his NGO who constructed a school with modern infrastructure in Muakwe. The same self-development efforts is seen among the people of Nninong who contributed money to develop their roads without waiting on the government or the council. We also have the NHIA elements who are mobilizing resources for their ongoing development projects. I think other communities in the Bangem sub- division should emulate these examples.
Self-reliant development should be the spirit of the Bangem people like we see obtain elsewhere. In that way we are going to see Bangem be the modern town we all love to see.
Thanks for talking to Eco OUTLOOK.
You are welcome.
