A majority of beggars in Yaounde’s city centre belong to groups with chiefs and well thought-out modes of functioning.

A stroll around or through the central business district for business, shopping or transit confronts the city dweller with an increasing number of street beggars posted at strategic places requesting the widow’s mite for their survival. Crippled or handicapped by a catalogue of ailments, they stretch out limbs with tearful eyes that arouse passers-by to drop coins of different denominations in sympathy.

How do these beggars get there, How do they eat, Where do they sleep; are questions every genuinely sympathetic mind would pose after seeing three or four street beggars along his way. As Cameroon Tribune dug further into the abyss of street begging, it learnt that these people are members of more or less organised groups. At sunset last Friday, January 13, a group of beggars could be seen squatting at the foot of a commercial building situated opposite the central NIKI supermarket. While some of the more than 20 homeless beggars were eating food sold by some two female food vendors, others were cleaning up themselves in very unhygienic conditions amidst people rushing in and out of shops.

“The group meets here every evening. They eat and sleep here on mats. Just like the two other groups that meet below the Yaounde Central Market, this group also has its chief,” explained Moussa, a carton vendor posted nearby. He explained that the groups are organised set ups operating in predefined positions in town where they sit all day. At specific periods of the year, groups leave for the northern part of the country and are replaced by others. 

It should be recalled that the Yaounde City Council took measures several years ago to clean the city’s streets of beggars but they returned soon after.