On the war front, the mayor and the populations of the commune of Bangangté are taking special measures to control garbage in this city which has just won the prize for the cleanest city in the Western region – Cameroon and plans to be on the first step of the podium in the national competition.
Like a football team, the municipal team of Pride presents a tactical plan geared towards the offensive: a dynamic mayor, acting as a coach with the perfect game plan. It positions the hygiene service as a relay of the environment and places the populations in a fire attack. At the end of each match, the objective is to win the battle against garbage.
The fight against garbage, the mayor’s hobby horse, Eric Niat begins to bear fruit. So far, the victories keep coming. The city and its populations have not finished exulting after its plebiscite as the cleanest city in the Western region. The news came on August 30 in a press release made public by the governor of the Western region, Awa Fonka Augustine.
On October 2, the commune of Bangangté will be in the spotlight in Garoua. She will have the pleasant mission of representing the Western region (eight departments) in the national competition for the cleanest city, organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development in partnership with Onu-habitat. Lately, we can see a happy mayor on Eric Niat’s face. But very quickly, he let go of the euphoria and turned to the prospect of the national competition.
Where everyone saw an easy match against the waste, the reality of the facts on the ground shows the opposite. You have to get your jersey wet to hope to win the battle. The first round ended with a victory obtained at regional level seems to be the visible side of the iceberg. “The mayor is aware of the extremely difficult situation in which the commune is immersed with garbage points being created everywhere and above all the incivility of the populations,” indicates the head of district 4, SM Kemtcham Jean Paul.
Tractopelles
Like this leader, others recognize that the mayor is on the war front against garbage which tends to suffocate the populations in his charge. “We did not wait for the competition at both the regional and national level to go to war against garbage. When we took the reins of the marie, our objectives were clear: to intensify the fight against unsanitary conditions by using the small arms of the populations to the task, by using all the logistics and the fleet at our disposal like that of Hysacam and backhoe loaders (small machines including a loading shovel and a Bennett) belonging to the town hall,” explains the mayor. He adds that unannounced raids are carried out to assess awareness-raising work in areas of urban centers and especially where urgent response measures must be taken. The city’s chief magistrate refers to the risky areas where the gutters are blocked. One of the consequences being children drowning during rainy periods.
Tri d’ordures
Every day, sometimes without respite, backhoe loaders cross into the city for the waste discharge and sorting station located in Noumga, a small town located nearly seven kilometers from the city center. To prevent garbage from falling onto the path, the drivers of these machines, assisted by an agent, take care to cover the contents with a solid net which does not allow any waste to pass through. This September 15, they spent almost 5 hours of time removing garbage from this depot in district 4. “We are very happy with the work of the town hall. We complained and the mayor listened to our cries,” rejoices a depot owner and sale of boards and slats. “Prime Minister of Chief Bangangté”, as he is commonly called, recounts his setbacks with local residents. “Sometimes you arrive one morning and find garbage without really understanding where it comes from. As soon as town hall agents picked it up, people came back to put back diapers.” He reminds us that Hysacam just collects what occupies the road and does not go deep: what is collected by the town hall.
Household waste
Illustrations. District 4. One of the most populous in the urban center of Bangangté. War is declared against the incivism of local residents who create garbage dumps day after day. We are here in front of a carpentry shop belonging to a municipal councilor of the commune of Bangangté. A pile of garbage has formed and is expanding to the point of narrowing the roadway. The garbage in question is at the junction between districts 4 and 5. Waste comes from everywhere; particularly in the city center and riverside neighborhoods. You can find everything there: cans and egg shells coming out of cafeterias, used hair and locks coming out of hair salons, banana peels and other household waste coming from family homes. A resident of Ward 4 is offended by the fact that people are uprooting grass, dry corn stalks, banana tree trunks and other non-biodegradable waste and dumping it at the drop-off point. The resident in question declares, to regret it, that “people in very bad faith are doing it knowingly just to try to smear the mayor who does not sleep for us (sic)”. This hypothesis is taken up by a town hall agent who raised awareness among residents of these neighborhoods in vain.
