Effa Tambenkongho
7 August 2008
Those who fill up do the job poorly so as to continue collecting money from drivers.
Young men who are unemployed and seek to make money have taken advantage of the rainy season that causes potholes on the roads. Since they are not employed they carry a plate they show for the drivers to cheap in anything, that serves as a motivation.
Sometimes they get brutal and threaten to block the road for persons who refuse to pay them any money.
Although it is not a bad initiative, they however use force for a job that is not well done. The potholes are filled with earth that gets washed off once it rains seriously. It even gets worst because it causes the filled area to be muddy.
The next day or in two days the boys get back to the same area to refill the same potholes and with the same "motivation plate" and using threats on those who refuse to contribute. Sometimes they use pieces pf blocks and when a car passes by once, it gets broken and again allowing little particles that can be carried away from the spot by rainwater. When the Douala City Council repairs the road, they move to another area which has potholes and continue with the same activity.
At Cité des Palmiers, some boys were busy filling the road. According to an inhabitant of the area, it was not the first time they were filling the potholes on that road. Susan Ngobilong said it is like that because the men carrying out this job are dishonest. She said they do it such that after a few days it gets bad and they have to come back to filling the holes again.
But the leader of the team at the Cité des palmiers, Samuel Edimo, said the accusations are not true. He said first, they are carrying out an initiative where they do not have working tools and material. He said he expects the population to show appreciation and not to accuse them.
As for the motivation, he said it is normal because that is how they earn a living.
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