DELETE THE ‘KEEP LIMBE CLEAN’ CAMPAIGN

Tuesday last during the evening at my abode in Limbe, I intercepted a call from my mechanic in Buea asking me to travel to Buea the following day in order to get the overhauled car which he had repaired. My car had experienced a fault at the level of the gear clutch unit amid of the one hand, a full throttle against the steep crown to the Buea town market arena and of the other a small jam of traffic. I had managed to maneuver it downhill and relinquished it to the mercy of the Bokwango garage. Later I had returned to Limbe by public transportation in the stead.

I awoke on Wednesday oblivious that it was the ‘Keep Limbe Clean’ campaign day. At seven of the clock, I left the house early, hoping I would leave for Buea to get my car and come back just in time to take my infirm aunt to the Limbe provincial Hospital for her regular checkups. Pursuant to this anxiety, I walked half the mile to the town hoping against the hope of meeting a taxi to Buea. There was no taxi in sight all through the 20 minute walk to the central town. Finally I succeeded to get a clandestine vehicle, whose driver not long before did he bring my attention to the event of the day. (‘Keep Limbe Clean’, my foot!) It is devastating how this campaign should curtail the entire activity of an important town like Limbe. During the speedy journey we were wondering together if it wasn’t Limbe that hasn’t changed or the authorities who aren’t in want of flexibility.

The ‘Keep Limbe Clean’ campaign has been operational since the then native authority in the region (mindful of its meager budget), implemented the cost effective sanitation strategy of obliging members of the community to communally clean up their private quarters, community fields and the infrastructures belonging to the native authority upon the first Wednesday of each month. Under the circumstance, no administrative, government unit, private establishments or business centres were required to do business as long as the interdict lasted during the period between dawn and noon. Inhabitants were warned to suffer heavy penalties variously categorized for that matter if they dared defaulted the rules.

Several years on, with them coming transitions in mandates and demography, economy and politics, yet a potential town dubbed OPEC archetypical would be chafed under the blueprint of inflexibility amid also, a protracted economic slowdown the nation had experienced since the 1980s. This is amazing! It is weird if anyone asked me!

In pursuance of the three common symptoms of economic crises Cameroon was facing during the span of the 1980s and beyond, which were a balance of payments crisis, government spending exceeding government revenues, the government had only the option to recourse to borrowing money, and foreign aid payments.

The IMF was one of the highly sought after creditors acquiescing to its set of policy conditions called structural adjustment conditions (see IMF History and Adjustment Conditions). In order to borrow from the IMF, our government had to agree to a set of conditions. The package of conditions has varied over time, and initially it included the devaluation of the currency – to make imports more expensive (to buyers within the country) and exports cheaper (to foreign buyers), raising interest rates – to make loans within the country more expensive, reducing government spending to bring it in line with revenue, and even the privatization of government enterprises, including water and power utilities, and state purchasing agencies.

But amid several notifications of our country unfortunately topping the corruption scale globally in international gazettes as we saw, the country was still facing more difficult economic problems, involving structural problems. More election to redeem the economy by the government was achieved by our qualification to benefit from the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facilities (PRGFs). These are only granted to countries facing prolonged economic crises and deep structural problems though there is a strong correlation between countries receiving PRGF loans and those that fall under the category of Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) which even the latter, our country was strongly in solicitation.

For just a matter of quick understanding, the PRGF replaced the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) in 1999 as the IMF’s long-term, low interest rate concessional loan available only to the poorest member countries. According to the IMF, the transition from ESAF to PRGF was made in order to place a greater emphasis on poverty reduction and growth. Eligibility is provided primarily on the basis of per capita income. In 2001 a member country could obtain loans under PGRF only if their per capita GNI was below $875. In September of 2003, there were 77 member countries eligible to receive PRGF loans including Cameroon.

(In order to receive the loan under PRGF, Cameroon being the borrowing country was asked to submit a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).The PRSP is prepared by the government of the borrowing country and its partners, then submitted to the Executive Boards of the IMF and World Bank for review. Once the PRSP is approved, the country seeking assistance is eligible for PRGF concessional lending and debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative.)

So therefore, our incumbency from benefitting from the HIPC initiative warrants the government to induce development and structural adjustment to address the need to reduce poverty as well as improved economic indicators, such as GNP/capita.

How then could Limbe, a town currently chafing under the yokes of underinvestment and economic growth forlorn-ment in general terms and in spite of its potentials to accommodate a good quarter of the nation’s entire investment plan, inundated with very small businesses be going for a complete working day without any economic activity, imposed ironically by the very authority that advocates for poverty reduction and economic growth.

If anyone should use mathematical calculations on the loss incurred by these small businesses during these campaigns which overtly is as ineffective as the people who uphold them, they would come out with billions of preventable loss per annum generally.

In spite of this, costs incurred are always constant. A small business centre that provides internet services for instance would lose up to two million francs CFA (2million) annually as a consequence of this campaign if they had 20 computers and each computer was yielding 8.000 daily.

Imagine the other lot of businesses in this field as well as others which make up small businesses, the likes of: Accountants, Acupuncturists, Advertising, Alterations / Tailors, Antiques, Appliances, Architects, Art Galleries, Artists, Audio - video, Bakeries, Bars, Barbers, Barristers, Beauty Salons, Bed & Breakfasts, Boat Trips, Book-Keeping, Book Shops / Stores, Builders, Business Software, Cafés, Cars, Carpenters, Catering Services, Chiropractors, Cleaning Services, Clock Shops, Clothing, Coaching, Computers, Construction, Consultants, Cooking & Kitchen Supplies, Dance , schools / Studios, Day Care, Dentists, Disc Jockeys, Doctors, Dry Cleaners, Electricians, Employment / Recruitment Agencies, Engineers, Estate Agents, Film - Video, Financial , services, Flowers, Furniture, General Contractors, Gifts, Glass, Glider Rides, Golf, Gourmet Foods, Grocery Shops / Stores, Hardware Businesses, Health Food, Holiday , homes, Home Help / Health Services, Home Remodeling, Home Snagging / Inspection, Hotels, Inns, Insurance, Internet, Jewelers, Kennels, Landscape, Lapidary, Lingerie, Locksmiths, Magicians / Magic Shops, Martial Arts, Massage Therapists, Mobile Homes, Cell / Mobile Phones, Model Trains, Motels, Motorcycles, Movers, Music, CDs, Tapes & Records, Musicians, Music Instruction, Music Instruments, Music Producers, Needleworks, Notary Publics, Nurseries, Nursing Homes, Office Supplies, Optometrists, Painters, Paralegals, Personal Chefs, Pet Shops / Stores, Photographers, Physician, Picture Framing, Pipe / Cigar Shops / Stores, Plant Shops / Stores, Plumbers, Printers, Private Investigators, Psychologists, Quilting, Restaurants, Rubber Stamps, Satellite Systems, Scrapbook Shops / Stores, Security, Shoe Shops / Stores, Shopping Centers, Solar Energy / Power, Solicitors, Spas, Storage, Surgeons, Tanning Salons, Tax Preparation Services, Tiles, Travel Agents, Veterinarians, Video / VD Shops / Stores, Watch Repair, Water, Window Businesses, the list is inexhaustible.

It is hundred of billions this campaign is filching out of the hands of the Limbe inhabitants.

I wonder equally if someone would first wish to see small businesses wave the flag and say "We play a vital role in this economy?” From time immemorial, small businesse have been a job-creating engine and have played an important role of the Limbe economy. These small business have provided us with flexibility. The new workforce [has many] married women with children, immigrants, and others who embraced that flexibility. Small businesses play a vital role in job creation, as so do big companies which we are in dire lack. Our small businesses will become a safety valve for large businesses eventually.

If someone is in doubt whether the ‘Keep Limbe Clean’ campaign is legitimate at this point in time or whether still it is practically achieving it’s initial goal, then the following should ascertain these preoccupations otherwise.

One, Limbe is no longer a village nay run by native insolvent authorities.

Two, communal exercises are great but should not be at the expense of the poor, but rather voluntary.

Three, The city has a government delegation with allocated sanitation budgets distributed to three regional councils as well as an embedded national cleaning service provider (HYSACAM).

Four, small businesses are currently waving a flag and saying “we are losing preventable income” (go to Sapper Road to see)

Five, the current global credit crunch is making the campaign a terrible experience for the benefactors of the poverty reduction plan in Limbe.

Six, the campaign failed decades ago.

Seven, the campaign is related to many preventable deaths and health predicaments. Imagine my auntie who is infirm and was in a critical state of an emergency, my car in the garage and all the taxis grounded. The family doctor who runs a clinic four miles away wouldn’t even be around if I trekked with my aunt clinging on to my back. Imagine the multiplier effect this is occasioning.

Mindful of the foregoing, it should be legitimate to delete the ‘Keep Limbe Clean’ campaign today and allow Limbe citizens to live a normal life as well as allow small businesses to grow.

Communal activities though very imperative, are commonly voluntary in nature. The ‘Keep Limbe Clean’ Campaign should not be the more evil to our existing problems.

Karls JBilz

Sources:

http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/sap.php

http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/howlend.htm

http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/prgf.htm

http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/hipc.htm

http://www.worldbank.org/hipc/about/map/map.html

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/0003/tr000322.htm

http://www.smallbusinessbigworld.com/afr/cameroon/limbe/limbe.php