BY MILDRED NDUM WUNG KUM
The Mayor to Bamenda city Council is taking the task to clean up the city in a bid to prevent the dangers of disease infection. Paul Achobong Tambeng is leading a clean up campaign in his municipality which has lately been known for poor garbage handling with refuse being deposited in water ways and on streets. The city mayor on March 9 was at the Abangoh neighbourhood where he led an exercise to tidy up a stream linking Metah Quarters, Nancho and Ntanghang neighbourhoods.
Led by the city mayor, with the assistance of the grand counsellor, city dwellers in Abangoh neighbourhood were mobilised to come out with cutlasses, hoes, spades and rakes to keep the water way and its surroundings neat. Male and female including the young and the old committed hours of their time until the area was tidy.
Mayor Achobong, crowbar in hand leading clean up |
Mr Achobong told the press that the aim is to prevent epidemics like cholera, malaria and the corona virus which are often favoured by squalid environments. He also said the intention too is to make people know that they are responsible for their hygiene.
Grand counsellor clearing off stream |
“We started in 2017 to clean our municipality. From the onset there was a lot of garbage here and we were afraid of pandemics and epidemics so we really thank the city mayor who was a grand counsellor to the Bamenda City Council at that moment and came up with the initiative for us to clean our municipality every week. If you move around Abangoh you would see that the place is totally clean. It is the population of Abangoh who are taking up the work” said a youth who is part of the clean up campaign.
“After cleaning we share the little we have be it food or drinks in a spirit of solidarity. We have witnessed an increase in the number of people coming out to clean these past weeks. At first just a few number was responding but now we can count one hundred people” said a young lady in wellingtons carrying a hoe.
Inhabitants of Abangoh poised after sanitation |
Addressing the press the city mayor said other neighbourhoods in Bamenda would have to copy the example of Abangoh by organising a day for clean up.
After being elected on February 25, mayor Achobong told the public that sanitation shall be one of his priority projects as he comes into office. He disclosed that the city council would see into recycling as a way of managing garbage.