« The governor of the Littoral region, Samuel Dieudonné Ivaha Diboua has sent à warning note against people or structures who go about dumping refuse along the streets of the city of Douala ».
The governor sounded the warnings on the day of the official launching ceremony of the operation, ‘Douala Clean City’. The project was launched on Monday 23rd October 2023 at the conference hall of the governor’s office in Bonanjo Douala
It was in the presence of the administrative and municipal authorities.
For an effective implementation of the project, the Littoral governor said from the 31st of October 2023, « anyone found dumping waste or littering along the streets of the Douala City shall be apprehended by the forces of law and order »
A decision which the governor said will come as a mitigation factor to curb the rate of waste pollution in the economic capital city.
The Douala City mayor Roger Mbassa Ndinè while speaking at the launching ceremony said they have been working in synergy to ensure that Douala regains it’s beauty worthy of it’s status.
The city council, the mayor said, had employed some 650 youths, engaged the waste management company, Hysacam, tricycles to carry the waste products in various neighborhoods.
The authorities said, henceforth, every home, structure, should be in possession of a plastic trash can where they can easily dispose of the dirt.
Dr. Roger Mbassa Ndinè said “ it’s better to manage waste put in trash cans than the waste being thrown all over the streets”.
He added that the authorities are working hard to see that the plastic trash cans which are currently sold at 180frs could be brought down to a cost not higher than 100frs in order that everyone can afford to buy, thus, easing the household waste management
Governor Dieudonné Ivaha Diboua in the same vein quoted an example from one of Cameroon’s cleanest city Limbe in the south west Region where he said every Saturday, the inhabitants of the city do not need to be told to join hands in the cleaning town’s cleanup campaigns, they just engage – reason why the Limbe city is always clean.
The governor decried the fact that some leave the clean city but get to Douala and abandon the good habit and adopt uncivil behaviors from locals.
The Littoral governor said “We want that this spirit should go away in the town of Douala”.
Reasons why the clean operation goes with the slogan ‘Yes we can’, calling the entire population of the city to join hands together to collectively make Douala a healthy, beautiful and an attractive environment for all.
The Douala Clean City operation is not only limited at the level of cleanliness but also at the urbanization of the town particularly ensuring that there is order on the streets of the city. This implies according to the authorities that, though for the past years they have witnessed a number of stiff resistance from the population, they are more than determined to scale through the challenges. The governor indicated that the streets of Douala shall no longer be a place for vendors to sell items but rather calling on all to sell in the shops. Adding that from the 31st of October people selling along the streets such as the Mboppi, Douche market streets will be asked to leave the area and never to come again.
The motor taxi drivers on their part following a meeting with the minister of Territorial Administration in Yaounde, the governor says they have been given one month to make their matriculations done.
The entire population is therefore called upon to collaborate with the authorities in this global strategy of Douala Clean City for the good of all for indeed, it’s possible.
By JULLIET MESAME
