BY Bakah
Derick
Students resident
in and around Bambui and Bambili took to the streets on the evening of Monday January
25th to protest against what they described as “irresponsible
treatment” by Cameroon’s lone electricity producer and distributor ENEO.
Uncoordinated
as their activities were, the disgruntled students successfully sent across a
message of discontent to the powers that be as police stormed the protest
ground to disperse the students.
According to
Awasung John a teacher in one of the schools in the area who watched the student’s
protests, the students were asking for “the
unusual in Cameroon…...” “if electricity could be cut-off when the president of
the Republic was addressing the nation and noting happens, it is means it is
usual to have power cuts in the country. To be protesting and asking that there
should be no power cuts is really asking for the unusual.”
Hosting a
couple of higher institutions including the University of Bamenda with
thousands of students, electricity Cuts from Nkwen, through Bambui to Bambili
and beyond is a daily occurrence. Nji one of the protesters and a student said
he has been studying in Bambili for about three years and “to get constant electricity
supply for 24hrs is uncommon luxury.”
Before the
protest that lasted for a few hours due to lack of coordination, the
electricity made public a load shading schedule, but the students say before the
purported load shading announcement, they have never had constant power supply.
This week’s incidence was catalysed by the fact that their exams where at hand.
Though grab
vine holds that such protest could be very popular due to the situation of
power supply which has been described as poor and has subjected many to untold suffering,
the Monday incident was managed by riot police who said was disturbing the
peace and security of a “peace region” like the Northwest.