CAMEROON PEOPLE -SOCIETY - Biya's visit to Bamenda Nov. 2010

Less than twelve days to President Paul Biya's visit to Bamenda billed November 29 - 30, work on some projects being put up or being given a facelift appears months away from completion. While some streets and major junctions in the metropolis have been newly constructed or rehabilitated, it appears some of the infrastructure initiated for the visit and the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Armed Forces, would not beat the deadline were the Head of State to honour the November 29-30 date for the visit.
As at November 16, during the control and evaluation visit of the Minister Delegate at thePresidency in charge of Defence, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo'o, the grandstand where the ceremony will take place, the engineers and technicians seemingly summoned more energy and flexed their muscles in an apparent attempt to finish the job before the deadline.

According to the programme, the projects should be completed by November 28. Caterpillars and other construction machines were still rumbling, compacting the ridge in the middle of Commercial Avenue in front of the grandstand.
After a guided tour of the grandstand, Minister Mebe Ngo'o descended on to the tarmac and, noticing that a crowd of curious onlookers was observing his tour, moved towards them waving and asked: "It's beautiful, not so?" Visibly pleased with their affirmative response, the Minister and his entourage drove off to the Bamenda Airport which has received a facelift.
By the evening of November 16, the grounds and pavement around what looks like an erected statue of the Head of State (still veiled) around the Skyline Hotel Junction, Up-station, was being attended to, albeit under tight military security. The construction of a gate at Mile Two, Up-station, which wishes visitors or commuters: "Welcome To Bamenda City Council," has been completed and the thoroughfare reopened, but has not been given the coat of paint it deserves.
Work was still being done on the access road to the Gendarmerie Legion. However, rehabilitation work on the Armed Forces Hotel, Up-station, had already been completed as we went to press. It is apparent that many other structures in and around Bamenda cannot be completed before November 29. Meantime, taking pictures of the projects and work going on is forbidden and under tight military surveillance. A reporter almost lost his camera for attempting to take photos of the grandstand under construction.
Jackboots Take Over B'da
Bamenda, noted for its booming night clubs and other amusement centres, today evokes a picture of a ghost town. Night life has simply died. The heavy deployment of security forces in Bamenda in view of Biya's visit has left the average Bamenda person living in fear. When night falls, fear too, grips the people; this time not of the men of the underworld, but for fear of jackboots.
Even at "cry dies", wake-keeping has become history. People desert funeral ceremonial grounds as dusk falls. On November 15, sympathisers and other mourners abandoned a wake-keeping on Ghana Street to the bereaved family at about 10 pm, which is the curfew hour for exceptional cases like funerals. Anyone found after ten is whisked off to a military, gendarmerie or police detention facility.
Those who have their National Identity Cards on them pay a fine of FCFA 1,000 before they can be released, while those who are not in possession of identification papers have to buy their freedom for FCFA 3,000. The security has also brought about financial insecurity. An on-licence operator around Mobil Nkwen laments: "I don't even sell, not to talk of making profit. Business has died down. I don't know if my landlord will understand that there was no business."
Most young people employed by such joints have lost their jobs. It is feared that - for want of daily bread - most of them might join the ever-growing enterprise of the underworld. Meantime, their female counterparts are battling with the situation otherwise. They are making ends meet by dropping their acquaintances and turning towards the men in uniform - the only class in society that now lords over the Bamenda night. Security has, thus, also brought even insecurity in love affairs.
On November 15, at about 8 pm, a stewardess in a popular restaurant at the City ChemistRoundabout beamed with a smile as two members of the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR, ambled into the joint. She abandoned the civilians she was attending to, including her boyfriend, and went to serve the BIR officers. When her boyfriend and the other civilians complained that they had come first and had to be served first, she gave them a standoffish look and reproached them: "Winna fit protect me? I beg, winna leave me."

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