The City Council was Created in 2009
The present Bali Council is an off-shoot of the Bani Native Authority created in 1921, which in addition to the Bali Council area extended to the Santa Tea Estate and right up to Baligham. In 1960, Bani Native Authority was granted the status of a council under Southern Cameroons law No. 74 of 1960 (captioned 140-page 83/84). This was one of three councils, namely: Bamenda, Ndop and Bali that made up Bamenda Division with their administrative Headquarters being Bamenda. HRH Fon Galega II was the Municipal Administrator for Bali Council from 1960 to 1966 and on August 26th 1966, Bali became an administrative district headed by a District Officer, while Municipal Administrators were appointed by government. In 1979, the Bali Administrative District was raised to a sub division under the authority of a Divisional Officer, and from 1986, mayors, still appointed officers, were in-charge of the Municipal councils till 1996 when they were now elected from their peers after the political party won the municipal elections. Bali Council area was an independent parliamentary constituency till 1997 when there was a merger with Santa Council area to form a single constituency. Meanwhile, the population increase of Bali Municipality from 1960 to date has necessitated a corresponding increase in the number of their Municipal Councillors from 25 to 35 currently. The number of Deputy Mayors also moved from 2 to 3 and to 4 then as it is the situation presently. In the 1996 municipal elections, the Social Democratic Front (SDF) party won in Bali Municipality and then controlled the Bali Council up to 2007. The 2007 elections saw the victory of the Cameroon Peoples’ Democratic Movement (CPDM) party, who again won in the 2013 elections and are in their second mandate at the helm of Bali Municipality. Fig: 1 gives a geographical representation of Bali within its locality. The Bali Council area which entirely covers Bali sub division covers a surface area of approximately 277.77 square kilometres and is one of the seven administrative units that make up Mezam Division. Bali Town is situated about 20 km from Bamenda, the capital of the North West Region. Bali Town lies along the Bamenda-Mamfe highways. It is found on latitude 5.54 north of the equator and longitude 10 east of the Greenwich Meridian. Bali is bounded to the North by Chomba, Nsongwa, Mbatu and Mankon in Bamenda II Sub division; to the East by Pinyin, Baforchu and Baba II in Santa sub division; to the South by Njaitu, Osum, Ngemuwah, Guzang and Ashong in Batibo sub division and to the West by Ngembu and Bome in Mbengwi central sub division. Part of the 17 villages that make up the Council area is the urban space. The urban space can be defined as an area with continuous settlement. The urban space for Bali municipality includes 8 neighbourhoods: Jingong 1; Jingong 2: Jingong 3; Jingong 4; Boh Etoma; Mbatmandet; part of Bawock and and part of Kutadnchi.
