Mayor

What are the major economic activities of the Mbanga Council today?

Mbanga Council, which covers 544 km2 is located at 65 km from Douala, about 70 km from Nkongsamba, was created in 1954. Its population of 35,415 inhabitants spreads through 19 villages all depending on agriculture, which is major economic activity. This includes the cultivation of cocoa and oil palm for cash crops and plantain, cassava, banana and maize for food crops. There is a good railway for the movement of people from Mbanga to the terminal in Kumba and vice versa, which makes for good relations between the Anglophones West of the Mungo and the Francophones on the other side.

What would you consider as major worries of the people of Mbanga?

Lack of agricultural inputs is a big challenge. Fertilizer, for example, is not within the range of average farmers. There is poor road network. We don’t have farm to market roads. The collection and transportation of produce out of farming areas is highly hindered. However, we are trying to improve upon the situation by rehabilitating roads to production zones. For example, the road from Mbanga to Loum. The shortahe of potable water is another problem. We have contacted Camwater and CDE to no-avail. We cannot build a slaughter house because taps are not flowing.

What would you consider as priority projects in this constituency?

 It is difficult to establish priority because all of them are priorities. Every year the council rehabilitates between five to eight kilometres of earth road with funds from the Public Investment Budget and from the council coffers. Improving on urban roads is therefore our main preoccupation. As concerns electrification, we are working towards rural electrification. But frequent power cuts slow the economy. Football stadia are being improved upon to accommodate youths.

How peaceful is co-existence in the council area?

Mbanga is a council with so many settlers and indigenes. There is peaceful cohabitation. We can see this from the various cultural dishes that exist here. However, there are some conflicts of interest over land, but the administration is handling it. We have instructed farmers not to cross over to lands that belong to their neighbours. In all, development is moving on a steady pace. The population just needs to remain patience and law abiding.