Buea Council Mayor, Patrick Ekema Esunge’s team of demolishers recently went to work, and by the time they were done, many unauthorised structures in the Municipality had been reduced to a rubble.
The target area was Miss Bright Street, in the Bomaka neighbourhood and those mostly affected were petty businessmen who had apparently not conformed to Mayoral orders.
The Mayor had issued a 72-hour quit notice on April 28, 2015, demanding that the owners of these structures, most of who were into business, clear away their merchandise. Those who were effectively served the quit notice sensed that the Council would, eventually turn up “to implement”.
They therefore, hurriedly carted off their goods to temporal safety before the exercise was done. Others who were either stubborn or hadn’t quite gotten wind of the quit notice were taken aback, caught pants down, embarrassed when the Council workers turned up and engaged in the demolition exercise.
A bewildered victim of the demolition, Sammy Ambe, told this Reporter: “I cannot really estimate the cost of the damaged done to my business; they damaged the entire structure of which I pay FCFA 120,000 as tax. I was lucky to have removed all my belongings from the house on that fateful day with the help of friends and onlookers.
“My building is not located beside the road. This is my compound. I don’t really know what they are after. I tried all means to get to the Mayor but my attempts were futile. I wrote a complaint and dropped it at the DO’s office.
We talked with him and he said he is not concerned with the issue and that he was not in a position to instruct the Mayor in his office.”
A bar owner whose “watering hole” was also demolished recounted...“Only the people beside the main road were informed about the demolition. I was not informed. I pleaded with the Council police to give me at least 24 hours to organise the place, but they did not allow me to do anything.
They said the Mayor asked for the structures to be broken down; so I had nothing to say. I have a building permit, but the place that was destroyed was an extension by the roadside that was not authorised.
I always pay a business tax of this building including the extension worth FCFA 150,000. I don’t know why they destroyed the extension given that I always pay for it. They are the authority; if they decide to do whatever they want, who am I to object? In any case, I don’t have any complain to write.”
According to Passy Brown, a quit notice of 72 hours was issued to them and by 2:00 pm on Wednesday May 6, Council police stormed the area and started damaging their business places.
She said that she usually pays FCFA 45,000 yearly as tax for her business: a cosmetic shop which has now been destroyed.
“They destroyed my counter, zinc and all the lights, but for my cosmetics, I had hurriedly removed them. For now, I have packed my cosmetics in the house and started operating a call box.
I don’t know what to do with the remaining materials that I had, I pray that God will answer our prayers.” She added that before setting up her business at the spot, she had consulted the land lord and obtained an authorisation from him for the purpose.
Passy said as soon as they had accomplished their mission, the land lord went to the Council to get some information, adding thatthe quit notice issued to them did not state the type of structures the Council would love to see along the road.
“They said this area was noted for insecurity and congestion, so they asked us to leave. We have been told that even if we have to put up befitting structures, we should obtain permission for the area. So far, I have not witnessed any insecurity here; I believe that when development comes, it scares away thieves.
It baffles me if they are saying that there is insecurity here. By 8:00 and 9:00pm, places are really dark now and I think the level of insecurity now has risen, because while we were operating our business here, we had lights, even though there are no street lights, so the place was secured then” Passy narrated.
EvaristusTalabuwas in Douala when he got the news of the demolition. Unfortunately, before he hurried back in the hope of salvage his property, thedamage to the store had been done.
“This was my store; I gave it out on rent, because I had invested here, but I did not have enough capital to continue. When I heard that they were destroying the store, I rushed here to recover some of the materials that were inside because the person was not around. The quit notice was given to Land lords but the tenants were not informed. Many people are stranded: they don’t know where to keep their things and how to get money for their up keeps. It is very difficult”, noted Talabu.
He said the Council used to measure some distance from the roadside and charge the owners of the business spot to pay.
“A distance of five metres, is charged FCFA 2,500 while petty businesses like call boxespay FCFA 500. Everybody pays this money to the Council, depending on the amount of space occupied”, Talabu disclosed.
