Limbe City Mayor, first Deputy at daggers drawn, Paul pulls first sword

The cold war between the new City Mayor of Limbe, Paul Efome Ngale and his first Deputy , Karen Muto Tanga, has reached a high point of no return.

The City Mayor in a warning letter has listed 13 different infractions, his Deputy has allegedly gone against.

Among others, Paul Efome has accused his Deputy of embezzlement, poor attitude towards Council staff, usurpation of functions and for allowing her husband act on behalf of the Council.

Since the death of former pioneer City Mayor in January 2022, Andrew Motanga Monjimba, the Council’s two top executives have been living like a cat and a dog.

Mrs Karen who replaced ad Interim the deceased Mayor, was not voted during the polls. The bitter experience saw her chances of becoming the City Mayor dashed to alleged political manipulations.

From past cases like Douala 5 Council, the first deputy is automatically chosen by the party’s bigwigs before pushing their agenda down the throats of Councillors. It is suspected that Mrs Karen was never the choice of the Fako bigwigs.

But the warning letter of August 3, 2022 has not reached her yet. Contacted by Cameroon News Agency, Mrs Karen said, ” I didnt receive any letter from the City Mayor. I am not looking also at what is on social media as its not an official forum”

In a video that went viral, the First Deputy Mayor is seen shouting at a man in front of the Council’s mailing office. Reports said she sealed the office because several documents meant for the Council’s consumption are seen flying on the social media.

She was also heard accusing the Secretary General of taking decisions without consulting her.

The City’s Secretary General is appointed by the Minister of Decentralisation.

Did the City Mayor go too far?

The said letter was sent to several offices including the Presidency, Supreme State Audit, CONAC, Prime Minister’s office, Ministries of Finance and Decentralization, SW Governor’s office, Fako SDO, Limbe City Council Board members.

Copying the supreme state Audit and CONAC denotes two things: the deputy city council mayor be charged with corruption and investigated for embezzlement. These are the bodies that ate competent in such cases.

The other reasons could be purely political, to out the Deputy Mayor in a politically fixed position where she will be hated by everyone.

Cases concerning Council’s are directly solved by the immediate supervising authority who is the SDO. In this case the SDO of Fako Division.