|
|
Cameroon: Tracking Price Hikes - A Daunting Task
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé)
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Richard Kwang Kometa
Globalisation has come to stay even if people keep thinking that they can look for alternatives to go around the phenomenon of change that it imposes. The information super highway has resolutely imposed a new pattern on world issues and communities to the extent that developing countries, such as Cameroon, have the burden to adopt their institutions and production capacities to meet up with the challenges of quality and quantity that modern exigencies demand.
The recent wave of violence that occurred in Cameroon on February 25th, soon after a similar scenario in Burkina Faso, and the subsequent spread of strike actions across most poor countries are symptomatic of how generalised issues in one locality can be similar in another part of the world.
Cameroon has of late embarked on a project to improve her road infrastructure, especially with neighbouring countries. Many observers are quick to see a correlation between that and the food scarcity in the country. Population explosion and high urbanisation have also been cited as reasons for high pressure on food supply, mostly in major towns in the country. Those in our villages hardly bother about the quality of what they eat!
As if to pre-empt the rising cost of living, President Paul Biya issued and ordinance in October 2006 reducing the prices of basic foodstuff in the market. During the Council of Ministers' meeting on 12 September 2007, the president told his ministers that "Government's task will also be to ensure the improvement of the living conditions of our compatriots through better access to water, electricity and housing, as well as protection of their purchasing power, given that consumption, as we all know, is one of the engines of growth. By so doing, it would be possible to meet the legitimate demands of a good part of our population". Even in France, President Nicolas Sarkozy won the hearts of French voters last year as the person who could improve on the purchasing power of the average Frenchman.
What obtains in France could not definitely be replicated in Cameroon but Cameroonians, thanks to globalisation, can quickly know about the happenings in other countries.
Thus, in a bit to apply President Biya's prescription, the Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, has for the past year embarked on a ceaseless battle with business persons to force them respect the Presidential ordinance.
If the Minister's efforts get diluted in recalcitrant behaviour from some businesspersons across the country, it seems more likely that government could achieve quicker results by acting to increase production. Mechanised agriculture in rice, maize, cassava, plantain and other food crop production could ease the hardship faced by the population and act as job creation incentive. This would mean a revival of abandoned farming areas in various parts of the country the like Ndop, Santchou, Tonga, Yagoua and Nanga Eboko rice farms.
|
While efforts to improve on the living conditions of Cameroonians persist, it is laudable to know that electricity bills could drop and why not the same drop in water, telephone and other commodities.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Cameroon Tribune. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
