Public toilets are almost absent in the regional headquarters, with the few available in bad shape.

Sanitation is necessary for healthy living. However, public toilets, which are supposed to ease things for pressed-up people, are virtually absent in major towns and public offices in the South West Region.

Public joints like markets, drinking spots and even public offices, are clear instances of the neglect of public hygiene. These spots lack good toilets where the people can relieve themselves. Even where toilets exist, they are left in very bad shape and instead serve as breeding grounds for diseases that are easily transmitted to users. Most of the toilets, especially in public offices, are broken down, with no water to flush after use.

Worst still, some people still make use of such toilets, knowing that there is no water to flush; thereby leaving behind foul smell which visitors or workers in nearby offices are obliged to continuously endure. With time, overused stagnant water in toilet dishes, combined with unflushed human waste, develops greenish colour, increasing the intensity of stench. Even where public toilets are still functional, little or no disinfection is done, thereby leaving users at the mercy of disease infection. From the look of things, users of such toilets, especially women, can easily contract transmissible diseases like vaginal itches, Chlamydia, and Syphilis.

Njie Kenneth, a civil servant, narrated his experience to Cameroon Tribune: “I have been to many public offices and to be sincere, I don’t think I liked what I saw. For example, the toilet in a very popular Buea office is so terrible that one cannot even enter it because of the stench it produces. Office toilets are supposed to be given proper care because they receive many people. Officials should consider employing mobile toilets like in other parts of the country. These toilets tend to be better maintained,” concluded Njie.