Fight against bird flu:

 Chicken retailers arrested in Yaounde

A good number of them were arrested in the Mvog-Ada market in the early hours of Wednesday 27 May 2016 and their products seized.

By Essan Ekoninyam and Tanyi Kenneth Musa in Y’de

There is an ongoing Bird flu scare in Cameroon

The period of warning is over. It is now time for repression. As a follow-up to the ban on the sale of table birds in the Mfoundi division, following the outbreak of bird flu which saw the sudden death two weeks ago of 15 000 out of 33 000 fowls at the Mvogbetsi poultry complex in Yaounde, recalcitrant city dwellers who still sell fowls here are being picked up on a daily basis and qyizzed and detained in police stations across the city.

                Last week, a crack team of The Median reporters was at the Mvog-Ada market which has a vast section where fowls are sold. Much to our amazement, not a single hen or cock was found on the makeshift stalls where they are usually exhibited. The usually thickly populated section was very scanty and the stench of fowls and their excrement that usually fills the air was gone. The place was cleaner than ever and only a few idle men and women were either standing or sitting there, conversing in low tones.

                It was clear to us that the idlers were habitual fowl vendors who were observing the ban of the Mfoundi SDO. Tanyi was the first to approach them.

                “What is happening here?” he asked a group of them who were sitting on a table. “The place is so clean, scanty and quiet…”

                They first hesitated to answer. Then a man, seemingly in his 30s, came closer to our recorder and said: “Most of us here had our fowls seized two days ago [Wednesday 25 May] in the early hours of the morning by officials of the ministries of Commerce as well as those of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry together with policemen in plain clothes. Upwards of 200 fowls were seized. Some of the vendors were arrested and taken to the police station, but we managed to slip off their hands. Now we are at a loss as to what to do. We are losing a lot because we can’t sell.”

                One of the men who identified himself as Jean Paul Kamga, the secretary-general of the association of fowl vendors at the Mvog-Ada market, added that the deadline given them by the government authorities to exhaust their stock had passed, reason why there was this repressive action. He said they usually sell fowls that are 45 days old but that they now have 55-day-old fowls, which implies extra feeding for 10 days.

                “This is a great loss estimated at millions of francs CFA. If the state does not find a solution to this, we will be forced to sell our products in the black market,” Kamga warned. 

Fowls sale flourishes in black market

                Indeed, the sale of table birds in the black market in Yaounde is certainly flourishing these days. The Median is saying this with confidence because chicken has not disappeared from most of the restaurants in the city where it is sold. Fufu corn and njama njama, a popular dish of the North West region that is eaten with “kati kati” (chicken seasoned with palm oil, roasted and cut into pieces) is still widely consumed by Yaounde inhabitants despite the SDO’s ban.

                Asked where she gets chicken from which she cooks and sells to her customers, a renowned restaurateur in the Yaounde Melen neighbourhood refused to answer, warning Essan never to visit her restaurant again if his mission is to conduct “unwelcome” interviews. Meantime, a customer savouring “achu” with chicken repeatedly called the bird flu scare in Yaounde a hoax.

                “Until I see a person who has been affected by bird flu, I will not stop eating chicken and eggs which are the sources of protein I like eating most!” he hollered between mouthfuls.