The PPRD – NW/SW Is Divided In Three Phases – Recovery, Reconstruction And Development

The PPRD – NW/SW Is Divided In Three Phases – Recovery, Reconstruction And Development

It is estimated that the Recovery, Reconstruction, and Development Phases of the NW / SW Regions, will cost about 2,000 billion Francs CFA, or more

The Reconstruction Phase of the PPRD – NW/SW was supposed to start before the end of this year, but the money is not there

Many projects that are supposed to be executed in the Recovery Phase of the PPRD NW / SW, are still pending

The recent move by the Cameroon Government to borrow 21.115 billion francs CFA from the Islamic Development Bank in the name of the State of Cameroon, for the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the Northwest and Southwest Regions, PPRD – NW / SW, among other things shows the difficulty and frustration the Government is facing to raise funds for the Presidential Plan. The official partner of the State of Cameroon in the PPRD – NW / SW, is the Cameroon Office of the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, through which funds from friendly countries, international organizations and others, are supposed to be channelled.
Worth noting that the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the Northwest and Southwest Regions, have a Steering Committee as well as a National Coordinator and Vice Coordinator. The current President of the Steering Committee of PPRD – NW / SW is the Director of Cabinet at the Prime Minister’s Office, BALUNGELI CONFIANCE EBUNE. The first National Coordinator of the PPRD – NW / SW was PAUL NJUKANG TASONG, who is also the Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, which is the Government ministry that is in charge of the PPRD – NW / SW.
On November 4, 2022, Tasong was replaced as Coordinator of PPRD – NW / SW by MOTUBA TAMAJONG OBASE. The Vice National Coordinator of the PPRD – NW / SW is NJONG FONYUH DONATUS, former Mayor of Kumbo, in the Northwest Region.

The Protracted Anglophone Crisis

Worth noting that the RRRD –NW/SW is a Government plan to rehabilitate as well as rebuild projects in the two Anglophone Regions, that have been ruined by the protracted armed conflict between Government troops and separatist fighters, that sparked off in late 2017 as the Anglophone Crisis escalated. An Anglophone Crisis that on its part sparked off in 2016, as a result of the degeneration of the long unresolved Anglophone Problem in Cameroon, due unfortunately to the lack of will on the part of the powers – that – be.
Even when the long unresolved or long ignored Anglophone Problem degenerated to the point of sparking an Anglophone Crisis in 2016, the crisis was unfortunately again so badly managed by the Government, that it also degenerated further, and escalated into an armed conflict between Government troops and separatist fighters also known as Amba boys.

Cost Of Recovery, Reconstruction And Development

Last year, the Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Paul Njukang Tasong, who then was also the National Coordinator of the PPRD – NW / SW, was in Douala alongside the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, for the launching of an operation for the sale of public bonds, during which he made some important disclosures about the PPRD – NW / SW.
Minister Tasong disclosed that the estimated cost for the reconstruction and development of the Northwest and Southwest Regions, within the framework of the PPRD – NW / SW, will cost about 1,500, 000,000,000 FCFA (One thousand, five hundred billion francs CFA), and that the PPRD – NW / SW is part of a Government programme which runs up to 2030.
However sources close to the Ministry of Economic, Planning and Regional Development, says with continued destruction still going on in the two Anglophone Regions as the escalated Anglophone Crisis continues unabated, the reconstruction cost continues to increase with each passing day. It is thus today estimated that real recovery, reconstruction and development of the Northwest and Southwest Regions within the framework of the PPRD – NW / SW, will cost some 2,000 billion FCFA.

PPRD – NW / SW Is Divided Into Three Phases

It should be noted that the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the Northwest and Southwest Regions, is in reality divided into three phases: 1) RRECOVERY. 2) RECONSTRUCTION. 3) DEVELOPMENT. Talking about RECOVERY, it is worth noting that the Cameroon Office of the United Nations Development Programme, on its part talks of RECOVERY PROJECT and not RECOVERY PHASE.
Meanwhile there has been a lot of confusion in Cameroon about the PPRD – NW / SW. It is apparently a deliberate confusion created by authorities, who instead of talking about the first phase which is recovery, have all along been talking of reconstruction and development of the Northwest and Southwest Regions.
Some media organs have also been misled, into also referring to what has been happening since the PPRD – NW / SW was created, as the RECONSTRUCTION and DEVELOPMENT of the Northwest and Southwest Regions, whereas PPRD – NW / SW is supposed to still be in its first phase, which is RECOVERY. The authorities are deliberately creating the confusion, because they at the same time are propagating the controversial claim that the situation is returning to normalcy in the Northwest and Southwest Regions. This false claim is being made, whereas, on the ground, the arm conflict continues to range on with more and more loss of human lives and destruction of properties.

The Recovery Phase Of The PPRD – NW / SW

The Recovery Phase of the PPRD – NW / SW is principally about repair or rehabilitation works in some very important sectors like health and education considered as priority sectors, as well as the provision of some basic amenities like water and electricity in the two Anglophone Regions, to help ameliorate the lives of the local population, that have been suffering a lot as a result of the escalated Anglophone Crisis.
We are talking of the rehabilitation of health centres, hospitals and school buildings in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, that suffered destructions related to the armed conflict or the escalated Anglophone Crisis. Markets are also considered as one of the priority areas to support in the Recovery, considering its importance in the economic or financial empowerment of the local population through the sale of their products, and also creating access for them to buy their needs.
The health facilities, schools, water points among others, are of so much great importance to any society or community that, in the case of an unfortunate destruction by war or crisis, they cannot wait for the end to be rehabilitated. People are sick every day and have to go to the hospital. Children have to go to school. They do not have to wait for the end of a war or crisis, to go to school. Human beings need drinking water every day. The market has to there for the local population to be able to sell and buy, or they are finished.
It is for the above reasons that the Japanese Government decided to support the Recovery Phase of the PPRD – NW / SW, through the Cameroon Office of the United Nations Development Programme.

Estimated Cost Of Recovery Phase Of PPRD – NW / SW

The Biya Government initially fixed the estimated cost, or better still the budget of the Recovery Phase of the PPRD – NW / SW, at about 89 billion francs CFA. At the end of the meeting of the Steering Committee of the PPRD – NW / SW that held on September 16, 2021, the then Coordinator of the PPRD – NW / SW, Paul Tasong, disclosed that so far only 10.4 billion FCFA (Ten billion, four hundred million CFA francs) had been raised, and that they were in searched of 78.6 billion CFA francs). The then Country Representative of the United Nations Development Programme, Jean Luc Stalom, called on Cameroon’s partners as well as the private sector in Cameroon, to provide more funds. But there was still very little response.
The main problem has thus been that the Biya Government has been unable to raise the required funds, or have been unable to convince friendly countries and international organizations, and even the private sector in Cameroon, to contribute to the PPRD – NW / SW. The Government launched the PPRD – NW / SW with a contribution of 8. 9 billion francs CFA donated by the State of Cameroon. But then only the total the sum of 11.6 billion FCFA (Eleven billion, six hundred million francs CFA), which included the contribution of the State of Cameroon, was raised in Part 1 of the First Face of the Recovery Project of the PPRD – NW / SW.

The Only Country That Has Donated Is Japan

The only friendly country that has so far contributed to the PPRD – NW / SW is Japan. The Japanese Government in 2021 donated 1.5 billion FCFA (One billion, five hundred million francs CFA) precisely for the First Phase of the Recovery Project as the UNDP and the Japanese Embassy call it. On March 10, 2023, the Japanese Government represented by the Japanese Ambassador to Cameroon, HE Hakoako Nozomu, and the Acting Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme in Cameroon, Alassane Ba, who represented his institution, signed another partnership agreement for Japan to contribute another 1 billion FCFA (One billion francs CFA), to the second part of the Recovery Phase of the PPRD – NW / SW.
The 1 billion FCFA, for which Japan signed the partnership agreement, with UNDP, on March 10, 2023, to donate, is for Part 2 of the Recovery Project. Worth noting that like the first donation, the second donation by Japan is going for projects in the Southwest Region alone. There will definitely be some questions as whether it is the Japanese Government that decided so, or whether it is the Cameroon Government or the PPRD – NW/ SW, that advised the Japanese to take such a decision, and why. Whatever the case, the 1.5 billion FCFA that Japan donated for Part I of the Recovery Phase, went for the rehabilitation of nine health centres and 11 water points, “improving access to basic services to over 30,000 people in the localities”.

Only Two Companies In Cameroon Have Made Donations

As regard the private sector, Cameroon’s Prime Minister, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, travelled to Douala where he on May 18, 2021 addressed Cameroon’s main business cartel known as GICAM (Cameroon’s employers’ organisation), and appealed to private companies to contribute to the PPRD – NW / SW. On November 26, 221, two companies, ‘Societe Anonyme des Brasseries du Cameroun’, SABC, and GINC (a mining company), signed separate agreements with the Cameroon office of UNDP, to make financial contributions to the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the Northwest and Regions. SABC donated 1 billion FCFA (One billion francs CFA), while GIMC donated 200 million francs CFA, making a total of 1.2 billion FCFA (One billion, two hundred million francs CFA).
The above signing ceremony took place at the Prime Minister’s Office in Yaounde, and the PM’s Office used it for propaganda to sing how the donations by the two companies were a response to the appeal that Prime Minister, Dion Ngute, made to the private sector when he addressed GICAM on May 18, 2021. But then since then till date, no other company in the Cameroon’s private sector has made any contribution to the PPRD – NW/ SW. Thus so far only SABC and GIMC have made contributions. It should be noted that GICAM has hundreds of members (enterprises) that include industries, oil companies, big agro industrial companies, construction companies, mining companies, all commercial banks and so on, and so forth.

The Fight Against Boko Haram In Far North Region

When the Cameroon Government launched the war against terrorist group, Boko Haram in the Far North Region, the Government made an appeal for the population to support the military. There was a prompt and heavy response by companies or enterprises in the nation’s economic capital, Douala, with huge financial and material contributions.
The Littoral Governor that coordinated the reception of the donation was in fact overwhelmed by the reactions. There were even cases of some Cameroonian business magnates that each made two different contributions, that is, one contribution in the name of their enterprises, and one contribution in their personal names. There were persons who donated as much as 50 million FCFA each in their personal names.
So the question is why friendly countries, international organisations and the private sector in Cameroon, have so far not responded positively to the appeal of the Cameroon Government, that they contribute to the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the Northwest and Southwest Regions?