SW regional committee says councils lax in project execution

By Vera Fon

Members of the South West Regional Follow-up Committee for the Public Investment Budget met on August 4, 2023 in Buea, chief town of the South West Region, to examine the different projects carried out so far.

The Chairperson of the SW Public Investment Budget Committee, Malomba Eseme Donald stated that, councils are very lax in the realization of projects awarded, making the SW region amongst the worst regions as far as project execution is concerned.

“We have realized that these councils are not doing their work the way it is supposed to be done, especially when it comes to the award of contracts. There are unnecessary delays, unnecessary project files which are kept. So, we have come up with measures stating that, sanctions have to be given,” the chairperson said.

“It is not the committee that needs to sanction but we are recommending this to the authorities who have the regulatory powers when it comes to public contracts, to look into this matter in the South West region and where sanctions are meant to be necessary, should be given. If this is not done, we are not sure to come out of this kind of performance,” he continued.
Malomba Eseme went further to say that: “Compared to this time last year, there is significant improvement in execution rates. However, we are not yet satisfied because it is still below 50 %. What we have just done, is a mid-year evaluation.”

The councils are said to be managing over 91% of the public investment budget based on the constitutional drive towards effective decentralization.