CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
|
Cameroon The challenge of public health |
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
The campaign against uncleanliness —
operation «Clean-up Our Towns» has
been relaunched
Cluttered up pavements used for commercial enterprises; public gardens turned into grazing grounds for farm animals; roundabouts changed into playgrounds by street kids; roads so narrow they cause traffic jams; unauthorised road haulage depots everywhere forming small islands of disorder. A visitor coming to Yaounde, Douala, Garoua or Bafoussam and other major centres in Cameroon, is shocked to see these strange examples of anarchic occupation of public places. But all this is about to disappear thanks to operation «Clean-up our Towns» which has just been relaunched by the governor of the central province, spurred on by the Ministry of Urban Planning, and the Ministry for Territorial Administration.
This crusade is not new. In fact, it’s an old campaign which, over many years, showed that all was not well between Yaounde’s and Douala’s citizens and the street merchants. Shortly after the Ministry of Urban Planning was established in 1997, Minister Antoine Zanga, who was determined to do something about cleaning up Cameroon’s towns and cities, launched a major campaign to return the pavements to Mr and Mrs Citizen.
The government re-shuffle in March 2000 gave a new impetus to the way our cities were being run. The Ministry for Territorial Administration asked the chief administrators in their respective provinces, to «personally supervise the weekly clean-up operations in the town centres and to submit reports as to how the campaign is going.» It thus became possible to control the situation and keep a close check on how our towns and cities are being kept clean — all with a determination to leave the pavements for pedestrians alone and the roads for vehicles.
There are dozens of other procedures which have to be kept in mind if the clean-up project is to have any long-term success: More and more dustbins must be placed at strategic spots along the main streets and at the entrance to public buildings; there must be a total ban on throwing wrapping paper on the ground (with on-the-spot fines for anyone caught doing so); work-groups for cleaning up the markets in the big towns must be formed; owners of roadside properties must paint them every year; public gardens, roundabouts and administrative buildings must be surrounded by some kind of fencing which must be tasteful yet sturdy.
Also, Yaounde and Douala are experiencing a major overhaul in their road systems — truth to say, major improvements are badly needed. Indeed, this is one of the more important aspects of Cameroon’s three-year programme to fight poverty. The road improvement scheme is a joint Cameroon Government and Bretton Woods Institutions (World Bank and International Monetary Fund) project, in the optic of Cameroon’s admission into the Highly Indebted Poor Countries scheme (countries which should benefit from the remission of their debt).
City by-laws must be obeyed
Over the years, especially in Yaounde, any attempts towards embellishing the capital and improving the roads, has somehow lost momentum. Yaounde’s city councillor with special responsibility for roads and footpaths, puts it this way: «Because the schemes for city improvement have not been followed through in a systematic manner, people are now trying to catch up on what was previously abandoned». But to have any real success, the actual formula for keeping our towns and cities clean must be changed. This is what’s happening. Government efforts are being backed up by force. Etame Massoma, governor of the central province says: «Goods being sold on the pavements will be seized and the merchants will be prosecuted». This is in line with city by-laws which prohibit public thoroughfares from being used as market places. Such an activity is a punishable offence.
The whole procedure now has an air of permanency, since the forces of law and order have been requested to clear the pavements, the roads, the squares in front of public buildings and churches, as part of their daily round of duties. Today, we are witnessing the destruction of shaky kiosks, stalls and other wooden and cardboard boxes which litter the different corners of Cameroon’s capital.
Towards the end of the «village-towns»
Cameroon’s «Clean-up Our Towns» campaign aims to help all our citizens have a new civic attitude. All Cameroonians are constantly reminded about their civic duties, by means of notices pinned up at all the main places in the capital. Citizens are urged to «throw rubbish in the bins and to report litter-bugs to the local bobby on the beat». People must become «litter-minded». Throwing rubbish or wastepaper in a dustbin must become second nature. And what about our «village-towns» in which shepherds have got used to allowing their sheep graze on the lawns in the public parks; where green spaces have become allotments; where housewives heat up their ndole (a kind of local vegetable used to flavour the sauces) or their tapioca in front of public buildings, and dry their clothes on the forecourts in front of churches; where meat is grilled at the entrance to mosques; and where shoemakers sell their wares right on the roundabouts?
«Bye-bye» to our village-towns. That’s the order of the day. The Minister for Urban Development is adamant: «Tomorrow’s town must stop being a funfair where every clown who comes along can present his best act wherever he wants.»
Operation: «Clean-up our Towns» got off the ground on 23 October 2000. Most people still think it’s all intended to spruce up up Cameroon which is hosting the very important France-Africa Summit at the beginning of 2001. The Opposition, most of whom come from the business class, say the whole operation is nothing more than the party in power turning on the charm, as they look ahead towards the (municipal) elections to be held in January 2001. But according to observers of Cameroon’s scene, it’s high time we, the citizens, show a more positive image of our cities. It’s high time that all Cameroon’s towns and cities stop looking like bush villages.
ENGLISH CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 2001 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement