The treacherous streets filled with gaping potholes with sharp edges have finally conquered Bamenda City, the capital of the North West Region
By Ngosso a Ngosso
After using them just once, your bones or your vehicle will feel battered and older than they ever did on ordinary road.
The dilapidated streets cut across the city from Hospital Roundabout through T-Junction towards Ayaba Hotel; Mile One Nkwen (Mobil Nkwen) right up to Bambui Four Corners and beyond to Ndop.
The other one runs from Hospital Roundabout along Mbengwi Road through Nitop to Mbengwi Park and the steep awe-inspiring hairpin bends from Up-Station have sent Bamenda all the way back to pre-Armed Forces 50th anniversary period.
The 50th Anniversary of the Cameroon Armed Forces was celebrated in Bamenda City in 2010 and it attracted what was considered infrastructural development. Alas! What little that is still visible are wrecked vestiges of the anniversary.
“During the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Armed Forces, Bamenda was shining. But all the glitter has disappeared. Now Bamenda is dark and dirty,” said Fru Patrick, a private transporter.
Even before the sun clears the top of the Ntahmbang hills, Bamenda turns into a buzzing, rumbling beehive with little room left for everyone. The yawning potholes filled with mud and other filth spare nobody. And nothing – motorcycles (bendskins) pedestrians, hawkers, taxis, buses; big and small, heavy trucks, tippers, carts and their pushers, mobile coffee and pop corn vendors; all competing for what is left of the tar are pitiable victims of a city under siege.
“It is a shame that the streets in Bamenda have to deteriorate to this low level,” said Omer Songwe, Manager of Radio Hot Cocoa.
