“Le Cameroun c’est le Cameroun ! "An expression used in all senses, and even to justify urban disorder. We like to admire what is done elsewhere in terms of Land use planning, and which reflects a desire to arouse public admiration; but when it comes to our country where urban disorder is caused in part by the people themselves, we respond by saying, "“Le Cameroun c’est le Cameroun ! " Some have even taken to saying that if someone explains to you what's happening in this country, and you say you have understand, it is proof that you have understood nothing.
We are in a geographical context where problems of hygiene, sanitation, and urban disorder are justified by expressive language which suggests that the country is destined to remain in unhealthy environments, when this is not the case. The resolution of problems caused by urban disorder, as well as those related to unsanitary conditions, are challenges that concern everyone.
Whether in urban or rural areas, all cities are called upon to evolve through the constant application of expertise that also requires the support of the population. To convey this change, which cannot be achieved without the contribution of all social strata of society, some people say that you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, or that Rome and Paris weren't built in one day. As if to say that, as time evolves, a State, through each of its members, has the duty, not to say the obligation, to give a more attractive face to a set of commercial spaces, through a collective and constant commitment. It is not necessarily a question of trying to build cities that resemble what is pleasant to see elsewhere, but of concretely translating through actions that we have the concern and the capacity to give a better image to Cameroonian cities, which are characterized in particular by the colonization of spaces, by anarchic points of sale, which certainly denote the concern of the populations to seek livelihoods in a Territory where the informal sector occupies an important place, but which must still be reinvented, because a reasoned modernization adapted to the context, requires that in addition to the political action which aims to achieve better living environments, the populations themselves translate through a desire for participatory adhesion, that they are in favour of the implementation of a planning policy, because they no longer want to live or carry out their activities, in environments which do not promote social well-being, and a better valorisation of their activity. Indeed, although the reality of living from day to day requires to be in search of daily bread every day, we must still ask ourselves what is our share of responsibility in solving the problems of insalubrity in our societies? Whether in Yaoundé or Douala, to limit ourselves just to these two large cities, many traders work in unsanitary environments and spaces that do not promote the fluidity of the circulation of water, cars, and people. Faced with this kind of situation which corresponds to the daily realities of Cameroonian territories, we are always very eager to accuse those who are responsible for the management of cities, without asking ourselves what we can do ourselves to remedy this situation. Indeed, traders can decide to no longer work in an environment that does not suit them, and find, in common agreement with the authorities responsible for commercial space management, the means to have more attractive spaces, which enhance not only their activity, but also the image of their country which has a strategic position in Central Africa. Cameroon is a place of convergence for traders who come to buy foodstuffs, despite the fact that certain markets are slumbering in an insalubrity which sometimes makes we wonder how it is possible to work in such conditions? We cannot be content to produce and sell food in environments that we have contributed to polluting, and accuse the highest authorities, as if they were the only ones responsible for this environmental disaster.
The concern for obtaining means of subsistence has taken precedence over environmental issues linked to urban disorder. Hence the construction of new infrastructures that are certainly insufficient and not easily accessible financially, but which are nevertheless effective solutions to reduce the extent of the problem. Indeed, concretely fighting poverty and underdevelopment means building enviable infrastructures, and doing everything possible to ensure that merchants and customers are in safe environments, equipped with police stations, infirmaries, and toilets among others. These are the palpable signs that a city is evolving, even if demands always exceeds supply. But despite this superiority of demands on the available infrastructures which are not financially accessible by all merchants, the construction of new commercial spaces already attest to the fact that the competent authorities are driven by the desire to provide populations with enviable environments, because we cannot continue to work in detestable environments, which sometimes give the impression that populations and traders in particular have an obligation to coexist indefinitely with nauseating environments. It is to prove the opposite that although insufficient, enviable infrastructures have been constructed because the objective of all development policies, which are in fact always political actions, is the improvement of the living and working conditions of populations, and to gradually meet the challenge imposed by insalubrity and underdevelopment, which are palpable through the growth of informal activities carried out in an anarchic manner in unsanitary environments.
Even if the proposed alternatives are shunned by some traders, the construction of new infrastructures is an alternative which, in addition to filling the void created following breakages or forceful eviction operations, is also part of a dynamic of improving the quality of the urban landscape for the benefit of all. For there to be effective change, the creation of adequate infrastructure must be accompanied by the deconstruction of bad mentalities, because populations have a duty to contribute to ensuring that their living and working environment is enviable, while insisting on the implementation of alternative measures that are more financially accessible because the implementation of a development project always responds to one or more concrete problems, which in this particular case of the necessity of well-structured commercial spaces, allows for a significant improvement in working conditions, despite the fact that the offers are lower than the demands, in addition to not being easily accessible for all social classes. The creation of such infrastructure, will certainly not solve all the problems, but it signals that we are moving forward, we hope, towards another era, where we will not only be content with having customers and making money, but where we will take the days of clean cities more seriously, and where we will prohibit anyone from throwing waste anywhere under penalty of immediate fines, not only in commercial spaces, but in every nooks and crannies of our cities.
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