Nkendem Forbinake
6 July 2009
With the wake-up admonitions to an under-achieving government made by the President of the Republic last Friday, is serious enough to imagine that the new Prime Minister Philemon Yang will make the security of Cameroonians a top priority. For good reason. Crime is on the rise.
And its attendant effects include not only a psyche of fear thrown on ordinary citizens but, above all, the negative impact on the economy because potential investors are getting less and less keen about settling in. Lives and property are under permanent threat from bandits. The occurrence of crime is far from adventitious. It seems to be so well planned that criminals strike at a rather regular sequence with rare impunity in urban centres and rural areas alike. Day in, day out there are reported cases of physical attacks, many of which result in the loss of life. Burglaries are no longer limited to private homes.
Government offices are broken into, not only in the depth of night but in broad daylight while the presence of security officials is no longer as dissuasive as it used to be. The situation is disturbing to the extent that numerous policemen and gendarmes have lost their lives attempting to check crime. Recent attacks on members of the diplomatic community and foreigners are dealing a deadly blow on the economy as potential foreign investors are obliged to think twice before setting up shop.
The fight has been tough, but certainly not tough a enough to provide a secure atmosphere within which Cameroonians can go about their daily chores without threat. To bring about this secure environment, the government must revisit its notes and commit new strategies to paper.
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