B’da ring road crying for urgent attention

By Martin Fon Yembe in Ndu

Martin Fon Yembe

Shakespeare in Henry VIII says “ His promises were, as he then was, mighty; But his performance, as he now is, NOTHING. This statement is further corroborated in Macbeth when he says   “That keep the word  of promise to our ear; And break it to our hope.” That summarizes the chronicle of the wretched Ring road.

                Last November 2014, the Prime Minister of Cameroon and supposed Head of Government, informed the National Assembly, the supposed house of the people’s represemtatives, that the section of the Ring Road stretching from Kumbo through Ndu to Nkambe had been budgeted for in the 2015 state budget. He was bold enough to tell the foolish majority of that House that work was going to kick of in the deep of the dry season. Remember, that was in November, when the dry season had just started. Today, we are a few days into another November; the deep dry season came and went…no road…no feasibility studies, no paving any where!

                There has been too much talking and politicking surrounding this Ring Road in the North West Region. The history of the famous Ring Road can make an entire thesis for a Ph.D defense. It makes for a good example of a hate system of governance where those who mold power feel that they have their finger on the trigger of the hate rifle to “deal with these big mouthed Bamendrous noise makers”!

                Once you step out of Mile 3 Bamenda, you only feel a smooth ride between Bamunka and Melim in Bui, interrupted by very very dangerous death traps called bridges . Thereafter, the rest from Kumbo to Nkambe and beyond can go to the deepest part of hell, and no one cares. Mr. Prime Minister sir, ask the NW Governor why he called off his trip and rather sent a representative to Nkambe for the launch of the Civic Education and Patriotism week. Of course, he cannot stand the nightmarish state of that stretch of so-called road.

                What does the Cameroon government take us for? We have eyes and we are seeing. We have minds and we are filing these in the memories of our computer minds.

                Who is tolerating the mess that one mad contractor is doing on our bridges on the Bamunka-Babessi stretch of the Ring road? Who told that fellow that you have to destroy a bridge before building another? See what we are going through travelling from Bamenda to Nkambe.

                The nightmare is further worsened with the ruthless and aggressive barbarians of forces of lawlessness and disorder at every five kilometers. They will stop a car, order all the passengers out of the car, even when it is raining, and ask for their Identification papers. This, they do in pretext of searching for Boko Haram agents, yet, those who do not have the papers pay either a thousand francs or five hundred francs to secure their liberty. All of this makes the trip more tedious, tiring and burdensome coupled with this very bad state of the road.

                What a pity. Someone will soon pay for all these mistreatment of a people.