Hygiene: Bamenda garbage company facing threats
The Empire Group hygiene and sanitation company in Bamenda, North West region of Cameroon say they have been facing difficulty in carrying out their duties due to threats received from unidentified people.
Officials of the company who preferred not to be named say for 6 months now, garbage collection has been a daunting task:
“I can say that the only place we work freely is up station. Down town, precisely Bamenda II and III, very often we go without work uniforms so that we aren’t easily identified given that we have been receiving threats here and there.”
Some denizens who have noticed the presence of blue and green cans in their neighborhoods are appreciative of the changes. “It is very interesting… I must admit I don’t have to go far again to throw my dirt, plus this move has made surroundings clean,” Evelyn an inhabitant of Park area said beaming.
Adding to online, physical and verbal warnings, the new company is faced with the uncivil attitude of many who still choose to dump dirt on streets coupled to the poor state of some roads which make it difficult for them to safely access some sites.
“You see and empty trash and look down to see piles of dirt… The people really need to take cleanliness seriously… Plus roads are really bad so sometimes getting to dump sites is quite tough. So we make sure we get huge piles in trucks before going to throw,” an official of waste disposal company explained.
The city mayor of Bamenda, Paul Achobong Tambeng who acknowledges the security challenge has hampered cleaning exercises is positive that awarding the contract to a native of the region will bear expected fruits “the people have been asking government to empower them and that is what we have been doing. Plus, most of the workers are sons and daughters of the land but everyone has to put hands on deck.”
