“What Makes The Particularity Of Moloundou, Is That It Is Surrounded By Two National Parks’, Mayor Allo Jean Richard

Leader of civil society organization says the setting up of the Multi – Stakeholders Platform in Moloundou, is a turning point in the development of the locality

WWF is accompanying the Moloundou  Council to set up the  platform, just like the organization earlier did  with the Mintom, Ngoyla and Yokadouma Councils

  Moloundou which is a border town between Cameroon and Congo Republic, is 600 km from Bertoua, the East Regional Headquarter, and 950 km from Yaounde,  the nation’s capital.

 Allo Jean Richard, the Mayor of Moloundou in the Bomba and Ngoko Division of East Region of Cameroon,  has asserted that what makes the particularity of the  border town between Cameroon and Congo Republic commonly known as Congo Brazzaville, is that it is surrounded by two national parks. These are the NKI and LOBEKE National Parks within the TRIDOM and TNS landscapes, which attract many organizations to the Moloundou Municipality or Sub –division. The area is thus rich in biodiversity, which unfortunately is being threatened by poaching and illegal logging.

The border town, Moloundou, as Mayor Allo remarks, is quite a distance from the East Regional Headquarters, Bertoua. He says Moloiundou is 600 km from Bertoua, and 950km from the nation’s capital, Yoaunde. Quite a distance, indeed!  The Mayor of Moloundou says the local population lives principally on subsistence hunting, agriculture and subsistence fishing.  The population is also engage in community forestry, as well as in the collection and commercialization of Non Timber Forest Projects, NTFPs. The indigenous people of Moloundou Municipality are the Baka and Bantu.

The Multi – Stakeholders Platform Project

The Mayor of Moloundou, Allo Jean Richard, was speaking to the media at the end of an important consultation meeting which held in a hall at the council on November 14, 2024, to examine a project to set up a Multi –Stakeholders Platform in Moloundou Municipality.  WWF is supporting the Moiloudou Council to put in place the Multi –Stakeholders Platform, just like the organization has already done with other councils in the forest zone, like the Mintom, Ngoyla and Yokadouma Councils.

Worth recalling that the November 14 consultation meeting in Moloundou on the Multi – Stakeholders Platform project, was attended by over 100 persons, that included representatives of key sectorial ministries like MINFOF, MINADER, MINEPIA, MINAS, and MINEDUB. Other participants included  community organizations engaged in non – timber forest products, cocoa production, community forestry, fishing, Civil society organizations (CSOs),  traditional authorities,  local and international NGOs, and of course the financial and technical partners including GIZ and WWF. Interestingly enough, the November 14 meeting ended with the unanimous adopting of the decision to set up the Multi –Stakeholders Platform. A follow -up committee was also setup, headed by the Mayor of Moloundou.

“The Setting UP Of The Multi –Stakeholders Platform, Had Become An Imperative”

Meanwhile, speaking about the project, Multi – Stakeholders Platform, which was the subject of the meeting that brought together the over a hundred participants on that blessed day of November 14, 2024, the Mayor of Moloundou, Allo Jean Richard, explained that the decision of the council to embrace the project, was the result of a long observation. He said for many years, quite a number of  organizations and other actors  of development, have been crisscrossing  the Moloundou Municipality, He said they observed that while all these different groups were converging on the same language which is development, they were however operating in disperse ranks on this common issue of development. He said there were no collaboration, no order, as each of the actors of development, would pass at its own time, and say one thing or the other. He noted that such a situation created much confusion in the population, and that more so the impact of the different actions, interventions or activities carried out by the different actors in isolations, were not really being felt by the local population.

The Mayor of Moloundou said with the understanding that all the different groups are for the development of the locality, the council thus came to consider the creation of a Multi – Stakeholders Platform in the municipality, as a necessity or an imperative, to ensure an effective development of the locality. He explained that the platform is like a space where all the different actors of development in Moloundou Municipality, stretching from economic operators, local and international NGOs, Civil Society Organizations, as well as the council, traditional authorities among others, will come together, for the interest of the development of the municipality. He said with the setting up off the Multi –Stakeholders Platform, there will be coordinated actions by actors of development. Mayor Allo said the Multi –Stakeholders Platform is thus for the effectively development of Moloundou Municipality in particular, and Cameroon at large.

A Process Of The Development Of A Synergy

Meanwhile on his part, Hon Bangaoui Gervais, the Coordinator of a civil society organization known as OSC CREDI, told the media at the end of the November 14, 2024 meeting in Moloundou, that the Multi –Stakeholders Platform is a process for the development of a synergy between many actors that operate in the area, to ameliorate their actions, interventions or activities in the development of the locality.  He said the consultation meeting of that day was very important, because the subject, which was the setting up of a Multi – stakeholders Platform, is very important for Moloundou Municipality.

The Coordinator of OSC CREDI noted that there are many actors of development that intervene in Moloundou Municipality. He said the actors include the Government which intervenes with the public investment budget, the Moloundou Council intervenes with the communal budget, and that the Nki and Lobeke National Parks also intervene. “There are also many partners or actors of development, that  intervene in Moloundou Municipality, beside the Nki and Lobeke National Parks, to contribute to the development of the locality”, he added.

“The Multi – Stakeholders Forum Is A Turning Point In The Development of Moloundou”

Hon Bangaoui Gervais said the main problem with the interventions of the actors or partners of development in Moloundou Municipality, has all along been the fact they have been doing so in isolation or unilaterally, and thus the impact was not being felt. “Thus the setting up of a Multi –Stakeholders Platform, is a welcome idea. The platform will among other things permit the development of synergy between the several actors of development in Moloundou Municipality, which will enable them to contribute to the development of the municipality in an organized and effective manner, and thus make the impact of the their actions or interventions  to  be effectively felt”, he explained.

Hon Bangaoui thus optimistically added that: “ I think that this project, the Multi – Stakeholders Platform, is a turning point in the  development of the Moloundou Municipality. It is an initiative that merits appreciation”.

By Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)

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