CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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Cameroon |
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
Various projects are afoot to improve homes,
public services, security and administrationIn Douala, Yaounde and Bafoussam, there’s any number of cement, glass and steel buildings blotting out the sky in the city centres. But continue a bit further on and you arrive at the real heart of the cities — buildings put up anyhow and anywhere, constructed with wood, sheets of metal, mud bricks — in fact — any material available.
Real roads don’t exist — just dirt tracks. Open-air ditches serve as a sewage system. Basic municipal services are sadly lacking. There’s no running water, refuse collections, electricity, telephones. Millions of people, coming mostly from the countryside and smaller towns, live in these shantytowns.
In spite of the deplorable living conditions and the low standing of living, hoards of people continue to arrive. Mrs Elizabeth Tankeu is chairperson of Cameroon’s Census Office. She says: «These enormous built-up areas simply can’t cope with the numbers of people continually arriving». For example, she explains what’s happening in Yaounde: «The population rate is increasing by 12% each year and the way things are, will double in less than ten years. It’s impossible for the water, electricity, telephone, education, and health services to cope with this situation. And don’t even talk about the traffic!».
Cameroon’s urban problems are far more than the lack of resources and services. There’s social unrest everywhere which can’t be ignored: A high crime rate; lack of security; corruption; the authorities’ inefficiency; disparity in salaries; and, especially, omnipresent poverty. It’s not the first time these problems have been mentioned.
In 1998, a National Conference took the decision to launch «A National Programme for Improving Living Conditions». The Programme acknowledges Cameroon’s critical situation and needs, but underlines as «fundamental», the right to adequate housing.
At a meeting held in December 2002 in Douala, a city of more than 2.5 million inhabitants, the Ministers for Town Planning and Housing (MINUH); Urbanisation; Social Affairs, noted that some progress had been made. But they also acknowledged inefficiency in management, low-quality infrastructures and an increase in the crime-rate, all of which have «a negative effect on the quality of life and the work environment in many of Cameroon’s cities and work places».
In March 2003, MINUH took stock of the various programmes undertaken, and said that between 2003-2005, an unprecedented move from the country to the cities will take place. MINUH‘s report stated that as most of the cities are not ready to receive all these people, there’ll be a rapid increase in the number of squatters living anyhow and by any means in the cities. There’ll also be a complete absence of services to cater for their needs».
Urbanization and poverty
Already, the population of the major centres is increasing on average by 5% each year -– far more than in the rest of the country (2%). In Douala and Yaounde, the percentage is higher. Cameroon is still by and large, a rural-orientated country — only 40% of its population live in the cities; but Kengne Fodouop, a geographer who lectures at Yaounde University, says that in less than 25 years, «more than 50% of Cameroonians will live in urban centres».
This urban growth is partly due to the natural increase in population. But is especially the result of people moving from the countryside to the towns. Many young villagers are forced to move to the cities because of the on-going drought in the north; land erosion; poverty and unemployment. They go to the cities looking for work and better economic and social opportunities. But, because of the economy’s recession during the past ten years, not much regular employment is available.
According to some experts, Cameroon’s urban problems were worsened by the government’s economic policies in the 1980s and the 1990s, dictated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The first privatization programmes often meant many people losing their jobs in the parastatals. Opening up trade to outsiders resulted in many local companies becoming bankrupt, unable to compete with cheap imported articles. Because they couldn’t get regular work, many town dwellers couldn’t afford decent housing.
The Minister for Social Affairs, Mrs Cécile Bomba Nkolo, notes: «There is plenty of housing available, but homeless people can’t afford it because they’re out-of-work». Also, the Structural Adjustment Programmes have resulted in budgetary austerity, preventing the municipal authorities from maintaining and providing sufficient finance for basic services, such as road construction and maintenance, rubbish collection, electricity and mains’ water supply.
Two aspects of the same problem
Mr. Fodouop says Cameroon’s agricultural policies have also had repercussions. Since the opening up of trade and the reduction of government aid in the 1990s to industry, farmers are becoming increasingly poor — especially cocoa farmers. And he continues: «That’s why any talk of opposition between rural development and urban development must be scotched. Poverty knows no boundaries. Rural development and urban development are two aspects of the same problem».
Poverty is presently found mainly in rural areas. But, because the population is concentrated more and more in the cities, urban poverty is noticeably increasing, whereas the situation in the countryside has slightly improved.
During their March 2003 meeting, the Ministers for Town Planning, Social Affairs and Urbanisation noted an increase of poverty in the towns, and that more women are now being affected by poverty. (The United Nations Programme for Development (UNPD) reckons that in Cameroon’s main urban centres, 10% to 25% of households have a woman as head of the family).
The situation’s got so bad in Douala and Yaounde that people who used to migrate to these cities are now looking for alternative destinations. MINUH says that urban centres situated along the Chad-Cameroon pipeline (called «secondary towns») now have more than 50% of the country’s total urban population.
So the process of urbanization is thus undergoing a radical change. Towns of 10,000-20,000 inhabitants are developing. According to Professor Fodouop, Yaounde’s and Douala’s growth-rate will slow down appreciably, whereas four or five towns of lesser importance will absorb most of the rural migrants.
Since August, small-scale programmes have been launched in Yaounde and Douala, to help the shantytowns’ population build better quality residences and improve the basic services. Urban revitalization projects are also being worked on.
In 2001 and 2002, these initiatives made possible improvements to the infrastructures and services for nearly half-a-million people, out of a total of 2 million people living in «secondary towns».
The problem of financing
A major worry is how to finance development projects and how to maintain essential services. The government and the European Union are providing some financial support, mainly for the initial installation of services but not for running them. For this, local authorities depend mainly on ordinary taxation and property taxes.
In July 2003, the Finance Minister noted that many of the larger cities raise most of their income from land taxation. Yaounde and Douala get 60% of their revenue this way. Because of these taxes, the better-off section of the population -– i.e. those with property and land which can be taxed -– contribute to the financing of services which benefit most of the population and in particular the poor.
Etienne Mbappé is a tax inspector. He says: «It’s not easy to collect all the taxes, still less to include other items which could be taxed». Correct property evaluation is frequently incomplete and out-of-date, and it’s very difficult to value property in the shantytowns since Deeds are hard to find...if they exist.
Moreover, a lot of taxpayers don’t want to pay up because they know all about the rampant corruption and the way money is wasted. Also, many senior government posts in Douala, Yaounde and Bafoussam are held by great landowners who don’t contribute anything to local finances.
Because of financial constraints, local authorities are increasingly privatising the local services, or at the very least, subcontracting them out. Household rubbish in Douala and Yaounde is collected by a private company, and smaller companies operate in other districts. But sometimes there are hitches.
Private contractors prefer to work mainly in areas where residents belonging to the average or higher income bracket can pay for services rendered. Many poorer residents are thus deprived of this kind of service. A town councillor, Vincent Belibi, says: «Private transport companies have sprung up, but their taxis and buses are extremely expensive and only ply on profitable routes. So, many townsfolk have to travel around by bike or on foot».
Mr. Fodouop says privatizing the water services could be useful but he has some reservations about whether everyone will benefit from this. «It’s a myth to believe that the poor have a free water supply. They don’t get running water because the state-run water supply is a complete flop». So, they’ve got to buy water from private water sellers and often they end up paying more than the rich.
- Gabriel Nguekeng, Cameroon, September 2003 - © Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment