allAfrica.com: Cameroon: Bamenda Inhabitants Deplore Increasing Garbage (Page 1 of 1)

Heaps of dirt can be seen on every street in the Bamenda Metropolis.

Strolling down the streets of Bamenda, it is not uncommon to find piles of dirt with a stench that send passersby running. Keeping the city of Bamenda clean has been one of the major concerned of the former Bamenda Urban Council and now the responsibility of the different councils. Reasons why the various councils provided trash cans where people can disposed off their waste which is accessible for the council truck to clear at least twice a week. But some inhabitance of this beautiful city are yet to know the importance of cleanliness. Despite the trash cans provided by the Councils, some people dump their dirt beside the cans and not inside. Some even go as far as throwing it on tar roads disturbing traffic while others even throw faces there.

Inhabitance who live or operate businesses where these trash cans are located are the hardest hit. They are battling it out with Mosquitoes and other insects. Most of them complained of frequent malaria attack due to mosquito bite. As a defense mechanism some said they do not open their doors while others said they frequently use disinfectants to keep insects at bay. Meanwhile a handful of people revealed that the stench that come out from the dirt pile make them stay away from their houses and businesses. Even along the commercial avenue which is considered to be the economic nerve centre of the town, piles of dirt are so common that some businesses people have been forced to relocate . Ngwa George a shop owner along the Commercial Avenue disclosed that business is not moving as the stench from the trash can always send customers away. He said he hardly stays in his shop for up to 30 minutes without going out. Nfor Kingsley could not bare the stench consequently he moved his shop to another destination.

Although councils officials at the Bamenda two Councils claim that the truck goes out twice a week to carry away the dirt, inhabitance said the truck comes ones a month, during clean up campaign days. This can be visible as the trash cans are always full to the brim with very uncomfortably stench. These makes it difficult for inhabitance to breath in clean and fresh air which put their health in to danger. But what are the councils doing to help salvage the situation? For the mayor of the Bamenda III Council, Pius Amando, the lack of equipment to disposed off the refuse is the main problem. He said his hands are tied and for now there is nothing he could do. Meanwhile the mayor of the Bamenda II Council Balick Awa Fedelis said the exercise is quite an expensive one. He said the council spends about 350 liters of petrol a day to clean up the town adding that they operate within their limited resources.

web allafrica.com	Enter your search terms	Submit search form
OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Use our pull-down menus to find more stories

Today's Most Active Stories