journalducameroun.com
The East which is the poorest of the country’s 10 regions also host over 270,000 refugees from war-torn Central African Republic; an influx which has further impoverish locals as the need for basic amenities also rises with the growing population. Most villages in the region lack pipe-borne water.
Yves Mpomp Kouma is the headmaster of the government primary school in the town of Ngouva which hosts one of the boreholes rehabilitated by UNICEF with funds from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, SIDA. He says before the rehabilitation of the borehole which has not been functional for several years, children usually had to trek closed to 3km to fetch potable water during lunch break.
“At times they returned tired and sleep through the rest of the day or they just go home. Even children who brought water in bottles sometimes follow their peers to the streams.” He said, adding it had a negative impact on schooling.
Nouhou Dawai, who heads a team of villagers elected to manage the borehole says, the villagers had decided every household would contribute 300FCFA every month for minor maintenance works on the borehole while the Mayor of the locality takes charge when there is a major damage. The villagers had also agreed on opening and closing hours for the borehole which along with eight others, serve a community of over 6000 people.
While refugees and locals in Ngouva and other zones harmoniously enjoy the UNICEF, SIDA water project, the case is different in the town of Nagonda, Garoua-Boulai.
Kamnga Golike, traditional ruler of Nagonda told Journal du Cameroun there have been violent clashes between villagers and CAR refugees over the newly rehabilitated borehole. “This town has more refugees than locals and some people insist refugees should fetch water in refugee camps. While some refugees claim the borehole belongs to them because its sign post has the names and logos of UNICEF and SIDA, locals argue the sign post also carries the symbol of the state. “This disagreement is prompted by the fact that too many people depend on one borehole and streams are drying up. Creating another borehole would be a sustainable solution.” He said.
Nagonda is however not the only locality that has insufficient water supply despite implementation of the Swedish government funded WASH project in the region. For instance the Mandjou municipality habours 68, 240 inhabitants, but has only 33 boreholes.
On the average, one borehole serves 2,067 persons instead of the acceptable 200 by government standards. “This is insufficient.” said Justine Blandine Bazza, First Deputy Mayor of Mandjou who points out the project has only reduced but not completely solved the water scarcity equation in the East Region.
Other communities that benefitted from the project that targeted 10,000 beneficiaries, include, Bindia, Letta, Ndembo, Grand Boulai, Tongo Ndongsodi, Petit Ngaoundere, Deoule, Mboumba, Guiwa Yangamo, Zamboi, Yokosire, Tapare, Bindiba, Zoukounde, Mborguene, Mboussa and Zamboi.