Youth Day celebration and government’s controversial fight against COVID-19

The government of Cameroon has canceled march-past activities throughout the national territory on the 11th of February national Youth Day.

In a release signed on February 5, the Minister of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, Mounouna Foutsou says ” the decision from the hierarchy is to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Cameroon”.

He adds that despite this, activities to mark Youth Day will continue at the Youth Village in Yaounde with a limited number of persons.

The decision to suspend march-past activities in Cameroon for the 2021 edition of Youth Day has been criticized by some Cameroonians.

To 23-year-old Eteng Divine Tatih, ” several members of government accompanied the minister of youth affairs to the Far North to launch the Youth Day. Thousands of students and youths attended the crowd-pulling events. Why did they not suspend the launching because of COVID-19?” He questions in frustration.

In a related development, some point at several group activities carried out in schools across the country Friday, February 5th to mark national bilingualism day on the theme “Bilingualism an asset to inclusive educational resilience “.

They question why the government allowed that during the period of COVID-19.

To others, since January 16th, 2021, physical distancing, one of the COVID-19 preventive measures has been flawed in stadia in Yaounde, Douala, and Limbe under the watchful eyes of authorities.

However, youths in Cameroon are anxiously waiting on what president Paul Biya will tell them on February 10th, 2021 when he addresses them.



Mbatho Ntan.