Urbanisation is a relatively recent phenomenon in our country. At independence and reunification some 50 years ago, only a few centres in the country could meet the dictionary definition of an urban centre. Yaounde, Douala, Nkongsamba, Garoua, Bamenda and Kumba were more-or-less considered urban areas not only because of huge human concentrations, but because they offered what even very big villages could not: electricity, pipe-borne water, easy-to-attain school and health facilities and the like.

The absence of these facilities has been held responsible for the mad rush towards the cities by citizens in search of better living conditions which, by all standards, are measured by access to the facilities mentioned above.

Stories abound about village people in the former West Cameroon whose relatives left either to work in the industrial plantations in the then Victoria or Kumba Divisions or those who simply went out to the urban areas in search of comfort. When they usually returned to their villages on annual leave or on casual visits, they organized themselves to be equipped with paraphernalia that indicated their new status of modernity: radio sets, bicycles, gramophones, bottles of Scotch whisky, Schnapps, large pieces of cloth generally referred to as ‘sanja,’ sparkling white singlets, slippers and the like.

People in the village could only be impressed with this sudden social transformation brought about by contacts with the urban milieu. Many years later, the phenomenon continues even if the parameters determining the choice have widened. The provision of several social services and amenities in rural areas has not been enough to hold down the mass movements into cities. And the spread of poverty due mainly to uncompetitive prices paid for agricultural and livestock products or handicrafts - the mainstay of the rural economy - has not helped matters. Many still see the cities as wonderful windows of opportunity for jobs. And even when there are no jobs, many feel the huge urban populations are a potential market for commercial activity. It is this feeling that justifies the veritable siege on our cities by hawkers and, by extension, the higgledy-piggledy posture of many of our cities.

Yaounde, the capital city, probably tops the list of urban disorder in the country. Douala follows and the clemency in its rating can only be explained by the fact that it is a commercial town par excellence. But hawkers and other traders in Yaounde have taken impunity rather far. Attempts by City Council officials to give the nation’s capital a befitting face, especially with the building of pavements, extension of roads and decoration of squares, have come to naught.

This, solely because the traders have tended to undermine efforts by transforming virtually every available space into make-shift stalls. It is common in Yaounde to see a pavement being used for the slaughtering of animals whose meat is put up for sale on the same spot! Game and other forest products are displayed on pavements designed for pedestrians. Roads built close to markets have laterally been taken up by fixed and itinerant traders while those built to ease the passage of delivery vans have been put out of use by market women who would rather use these beautiful roads to display raw food and vegetable items.

The situation is taking a dangerous dimension which may lead inexorably to the negation of the notion of the city. It is difficult to believe that the occupation of city roads brings about many other problems. These include difficult passage of vehicles such as ambulances taking emergency cases to hospitals, school children who arrive late for classes because of the difficult flow of traffic, fire-fighters who cannot get to disaster scenes on time…

This ugly promiscuity also carries in its wake other problems such as the difficulty of disposing refuse and the easy spread of diseases due to the absence of water and other facilities. These facilities are in short supply in many cities today because of the spontaneous nature of the settings.

There was a lot of hue and cry last Friday as the authorities took the issue head on by forcefully cleaning the streets in the Mokolo Market area in a campaign expected to be carried out in other Yaounde neighborhoods in the coming weeks. A lot of property was destroyed. But that is also the price to pay for having a clean city, one worthy of its name and not just a juxtaposition of village and city life.