Cameroon: Bamenda City Roads to be constructed 4 years after Coffin Revolution

It was in November 21, 2016, that Mancho Bibixy appeared in an open casket in a crowded City Chemist roundabout in Bamenda to express his frustration over the state of bad roads in the city of Bamenda. And this event has been retained as the day that marked the start of the Anglophone crisis.

He is now known as the leader of the Coffin Revolution in Cameroon. He would later be arrested in Bamenda on January 19, 2017 and has been detained at the Kondengui Prison in Yaounde since then.

If Mancho Bibixy were to be released to return to his home city today; he may just do a re-make of the 2016 coffin protest; the road situation in Bamenda have even worsened, it is an eyesore. Dilapidated, pot holes everywhere dusty, many have been forced to ponder if it was not a deliberate attempt by the Cameroon government to neglect, marginalize and punish the Bamenda people who by some coincidence are always are the forefront of protests demanding socio-economic and political reforms in Cameroon. In 1990 it was the Bamenda-based Social Democratic Front, SDF, party that started the movement that led to the return of multi-party politics in the country.

In any case, Cameroon government authorities have always maintained that administrative procedures may be slow but sure as policies are implemented progressively. And so finally the turn of the city of Bamenda may be around concerning the construction of its city roads.

A road project to this effect has been announced. An assurance made by the Bamenda City Mayor Paul Achombang. The close to 52 km project is to be funded by the World Bank.

During a recent event to announce the project to the population of Bamenda, the government representative, Senior Divisional Officer for Mezam, Simon Emile Moore who assured that the road will have an international touch, begged for the collaboration of the population to ensure the works are hitch free. Most contractors have refused working in the Anglophone Regions since the escalation of the armed conflict. Some who dared have had some of their machines burnt and personnel kidnapped, apparently by armed separatist fighting for a separate independent Anglophone country they call Ambazonia.

Ndefru Melanie