South West : Regional Assembly Votes 2024 Budget

The South West Region will run its Regional Assembly and implement development projects with FCFA four billion 714 million 941 thousand in 2024 as balanced in revenue and expenditure. The budget is taller than last year’s (2023) envelope of CFA 3,9 billion. Of the entire budget, 78 per cent will go for investment while the rest will be used for the running or recurrent cost of the Regional Assembly. That is the outcome of the deliberations leading to the voting of their budget last 5 January, 2024 in Buea in the presence of the Governor. 
Opening the session on 4 January, the President of the combined Regional Houses of Chiefs and Divisional Representatives, Zacheus Bakoma Elango, expressed worries that some contractors took jobs last year, sat on them but failed to execute. He reported that he had to rescind one of the contracts even when the contractor had already received 20 per cent of payment yet supplying nothing. Presenting the budget for discussion, the President underscored that the investment part of the budget was tailored to meet the aspirations of the people of the South West Region particularly in the areas of health coverage, vocational and general education, road infrastructure, potable water supply and rural electrification. Meanwhile the recurrent portion of the envelope would ensure the optimum functioning of the services of the Regional Assembly by way of personnel training, office materials, health insurance, salaries, and allowances to staff, as well as image building for the institution. The budget, he explained, equally seeks to promote accountability and good governance.
One of the projects that jump to the eye of the common citizen of the South West Region is the earmarke...