By Tata Mbunwe
Koba, a village in Konye, Meme Division of the Southwest Region, will experience a turning point in its development with the arrival of taxis and other small vehicles to the village for the first time.
Villagers recently decided to front their development by digging and opening the road into the village to grant access to vehicles. Their priority is small vehicles.
“We want that before the government helps us we should help ourselves. But the government should not abandon us just because we are trying to do it on our own,” said one of the Koba community workers.
Only bikes have been plying the road to the village due to its badly broken nature.
Using local digging tools, dozens of Koba villagers sought to create a motorable road that links the village to Konye, the Sub-Divisional headquarters.
“We want the government to see this,” said the President of the Koba village council.
“The suffering is too much. We are sweating when the government has many bulldozers and equipment that can do this job for us. But we also want the government to know that we will see vehicles this year, no matter what happens. Taxis and all small vehicle must come to this village,” he added.
Nearly all villagers were involved in the community labour, due to the impact they want to create.
Previous community works on the road only involved bike riders, who are the most frequent users of the road.
Over the years, people have been transporting nearly everything to the village on motorcycles, including corpses of people who died out of the village.
Although they have now decided to help themselves, they also want help to make the road better.
“I’m pleading with our notables who are out of the village to join their heads together to see how we can develop this village,” said the head of the Koba bike riders union.
Koba is the latest of many communities in Cameroon who are championing their own development.
Many of these communities, especially in the English-speaking regions, have been completely abandoned by the administration due to the raging armed conflict that has claimed many lives.
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