By Bless Zoshe
Buea, Cameroon
As Buea and the Southwest region braces up to host the 50th Anniversary celebration of Cameroon’s reunification, members of the various sub committees charged with preparations are multiplying meetings, to fine tune strategies and meet up with their different tasks.
In the week of March 4 to 11 alone, three of such meetings held in Buea. These involved the Lodging, Cultural animation, as well as the Protocol and Strategic Deployment sub-committees.
Refurbished Mountain Hotel, near completion
According to the Regional Delegate of Tourism, president of the Lodging sub-committee, Elangwe Peter Pel, their job was to identify suitable lodging facilities, to accommodate the over 2500 guests expected in Buea, for the event.
Evaluating the grounds covered so far, the delegate revealed that their assignment was 99% completed.
“According to the terms of reference of our commission, we were assigned to identify lodging areas, hotels, and ministerial guest houses. We have seen those. We have also seen 10 other privately owned equipped houses, 15 ministerial suits, as well as 10 villas which range from two rooms with all toilet facilities, and of course, a large lodging ground at the Mount Cameroon Football School, where there are about 80 rooms of all categories. There is also a big dormitory which can take up to 500 guests.
Parliamentarian Flat,
In Fako Division, in general, especially Tiko, Limbe, Mutengene, and Buea, we have identified 73 hotels with a capacity of over 900 rooms. We also dispatched some people to Kumba, so, by the time the various reports come in; we expect to have over 2800 lodging space.
The handicap we have is that we don’t know exactly how many people will be lodged. However, that was the assignment we were given and we have done that,” Elangwe explained.
Asked what happens after the identification of the various lodging facilities, the president said they will forward their findings to the chairman of the Southwest local organizing committee, (Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai).
Eta Palace Hotel, possible lodging facility for Reunification celebration
“He would in turn send it to the national organizing sub-committee for lodging, and this last group would be in the best place to select where to place who, and at what price,” the delegate added.
As for the Cultural animation sub-committee, the president, Regional Delegate of Culture, Essibi Daniel said they were working on the detection and selection of cultural groups and artists, who would perform during a mega cultural attraction on the D-day.
Meanwhile, works on other earmarked roads, electrification, and infrastructure projects have been greatly accelerated, ahead of the March ending deadline stressed by Governor Okalia Bilai.
