Robert Tumasang
24 August 2008
Traders at the Bertoua Central Market have expressed bitterness with what they have termed extortion meted on them by personnel of the Bertoua City Council.
Confidence Tantoh, a buyam-sellam in the market, complains that the FCFA 50 increase in the daily payments each trader pays to the council is too high."We used to pay FCFA 100 each day to the council.
Now they have increased the amount to FCFA 150, and if you add up the money you discover that each trader pays FCFA 4500 every month! Multiply this sum by twelve and you discover that you pay a staggering FCFA 54000 yearly to the council! And we don't even make any profit... we can't break even, given the country's precarious financial situation," she lamented.
Her colleague, Marianne Kongmo, who runs a small stall in the market bemoans: "Every month I pay about FCFA 3900 to the council, since I don't sell on Sundays. What is frustrating is that we don't even know what they do with the money. Just take a look at the heaps of garbage in the market...the stench is horribly nauseating...
we don't even have a public toilet in the market and whenever one has to use the toilet, you have to pay FCFA 25 to a private concern," she complained."It's a shame to the council," Marie Solange, a hair dresser in the same market lashed out. "The huge sums of money they collect from us every day is nothing short of extortion or you tell me what they do with the money".
The traders also lashed out against the council authorities whom they accuse of trying to force them to buy health cards."Has the Mayor become a health specialist to deliver health cards that assesses the health situation of traders? They questioned.
The Secretary General of the Bertoua City Council, Dominique Sabolo Meyama, said the management of markets by law is the preservation of the city council, and so none of the mayors in Bertoua are competent to carry out any projects in the market. He indicated that when the structures of the city council are effectively put in place, the problems of the market could be effectively resolved.
For now, the appointment of a government delegate to the Bertoua City Council is still awaited.
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