LUKONG Pius NYUYLIME

The sledge hammer of the Senior Divisional Officer for Mfoundi fell on March 24 this year. Henceforth, water from doubtful sources including that sold in sachets and hawked in buckets and other containers in the capital city, Yaounde will no longer be authorized. The decision cannot be qualified as a simple coincidence with the outbreak of cholera in Yaounde but a logical administrative act to attenuate the consequences of the epidemic which has apparently caught many Yaounde inhabitants by surprise.

Almost one week since the Mfoundi authority unleashed his administrative bullet, people; especially vendors of the product have continued to behave as if nothing has happened. From the look of things, they appear to have disappeared from the city centre, but transferred their activities to the neighbourhoods. One finds them in Mvog-Mbi, Ngoa-Ekele, Biyem assi, Tsinga, Briqueterie, Melen, Mokolo Elobi, etc. The question that quickly comes to mind is whether these vendors are simply being ignorant, recalcitrant, or just having an aggressive thirst for liquid cash?

This comportment certainly leaves no conscientious Cameroonian indifferent but tells of a normalcy engraved in a system where rules, regulation and laws mean little to those concerned. The Cholera death toll which officially stands at over 15 today with more than 150 cases identified in Yaounde seems to have little or no meaning to many. In spite of the media campaign on how to avoid cholera, many continue to go about their daily activities as before; eating with unwashed hands, drinking just anything in the name of water and eating any kinds of food among others. Many continue to bask in the stupid popular saying, aptly put in Pidgin English; “Blackman no di die duty”, a black man never dies of dirt. Yet we see quite a good number of them taking a good ride to the grave.

The Prefectural Order of last week is certainly a good step ahead to limit the damage that could be caused by the epidemic. But this would remain simple paper work if nothing is done to ensure its implementation, especially in a situation where people have adamantly given a deaf ear to decent behaviour. The question many would be asking is; who should implement the order? The answer is simple; all of us. While the forces of Law and Order go down the streets to hunt for water hawkers and flush them out by force, it is the duty of the ordinary Yaounde citizen to assist them in identifying these culprits. It is better to call them culprits because they are vectors of cholera and consequently promoters of the epidemic. In fact, they are killers.

Not so long ago, Cameroon Tribune did an investigative report on one of the water production enterprises located in the outskirt of the city. The investigation revealed that the water that is well sealed in sachets and in very high demand is simply drawn from an ordinary well and sold for consumption without any treatment. The simple argument of course points to the fact that the capital city is deprived of potable water and as such its inhabitants have no other alternative than resort to other sources. To a lesser extent, this is logical, but logic has no place when it comes to death.

That said, these happenings ought not to leave authorities of Cameroon Water Utilities (CAMWATER) and Camerounaise des eaux (CDE) indifferent. The situation at hand demands urgent measures and these two companies are highly challenged. Is it not high time to design a water rationing programme which will ensure that neighborhoods without potable water are supplied with some? This is an important question that urgently needs a response and an immediate one. In a nutshell, the fight against propagators of cholera remains collective until the epidemic is completely rooted out.