Cameroonian comedian Tembu Daniel Ebere, known popularly as 237 Towncryer, has taken to the streets of Bamenda to protest against bad roads.
Tembu Daniel could be seen brandishing placards calling in authorities to “Fix our roads” and to “Stop intimidation and harassment.”
He also stated, “My people are living in fear” and “There is hunger.”
The issues he was protesting against are the daily realities of millions of Cameroonians.
Before going to protest on the streets of Bamenda, he had been in Buea, where he decried bad roads.
In Buea, he was seen sitting on a chair in the middle of a dilapidated road filled with muddy water.
Vehicles using the road were forced to branch through a nearby petrol station to access the other side of the damaged road.
This was at Mile 18, Buea, which is on National Road Number 8, connecting Mutengene to Buea, Muyuka, Kumba and Mamfe in the South West Region.
Most major roads in Cameroon are dilapidated and important cities like Yaounde, the political capital, and Douala, the economic capital, are not spared.
Recurrent road accidents also claim several lives every month, with bad roads blamed for some of the tragedies.
The latest such accidents occurred last week, after a truck collided head-on with a police pickup along the Douala-Yaounde road. Lives were lost.
Before that, a landslide killed at least 12 people in Dschang. Most of these people were buried alongside vehicles that were dodging from a road block, caused by a smaller landslide.
The Dschang Hill road is known for causing several car accidents due to its narrowness and risky topography.
Tembu Daniel is one of a few celebrities in Cameroon who have been brave to publicly protest against underdevelopment and high cost of living.
During his protest against bad roads in Buea, he sarcastically said, “Beautiful roads in the South West Region of Cameroon. Thank you, President Paul Biya; we are grateful”.
Paul Biya, 91, has been President in Cameroon for 42 years.
The country’s road infrastructure, observers say, has decayed during his reign.
The cost of living in Cameroon keeps increasing as well. Conflicts in the country’s Far North, North West and South West Regions have killed thousands and rendered millions poor.
Roads and healthcare are equally below standard.
So, Comedian 237 Towncryer was advocating for what many Cameroonians are experiencing, but are scared to voice out.
The country has a bad human rights record and has a history of cracking down on peaceful protests.
For How Long?
The Ministry of Public Works recently said the government constructed and rehabilitated about 2,900 kilometres of road between 2016 and 2023.
However, many roads across the country remain dilapidated and many citizens were clueless on where these roads were built, when MMI posed a public question on the issue.
The Public Works Ministry has rolled out another plan to construct 3,000 km of roads between 2024 and 2030.
The year 2030 is significant in the country’s development plans because this is when Biya’s government says Cameroon will emerge economically.
But economic indicators suggest the dream will not be attained within the set time.
