Friday 22 November 2013

CAMEROON – THE REALITIES OF THE COUNTRYSIDE: A TRIP TO KOTO (Part 1)




                            “A Community grossly deprived of basic amenities or infrastructure;                   
                                             yet the food basket of its surrounding cities.”

“Sir, its only in Koto you can get a good wood for your roofing work – the ‘small leaf’ specie. It will be faster and cheaper. There are many small local dealers”; Ngom Kome a local wood job man in Limbe told me.


My trip to Koto was triggered by a need. I was neither on an adventure trip nor a tourist visit. I needed specie of wood for roofing work at our construction site. My contact person Ngom Kome proposed Koto to me, for quality and quantity. Hearing about Koto was basically the second time I have heard the name as a village or community. I know it is in Cameroon but do not know its exact location. Ngom Kome gave me a better understanding to this. From more inquiries, I realized also that Koto is more of a farming community than a timber enclave where wood is commercially exploited. This actually aroused my curiosity. Otherwise there is no real excitement in making a trip to a rural area in Cameroon.


We set out from mile 4 motor park Limbe. Obviously my contact person Ngom Kome was with me. Getting him to embark on this trip cost me a compensation for his daily earnings. I don’t know how much he earns but he requested for a certain amount which I obliged him. I think for a job man living at subsistence level with his family, compensation for his daily ‘bread’ is very important to him.
Journeying through the Tiko – Douala highway, I fixed my gaze at the expansive CDC banana and rubber plantations along both sides of the highway. The Cameroon Development Cooperation (CDC) and its banana partners – Demonte occupies about 75% of lands in this. The place of the native landowners and what happen to their own farming activities is a story for another day.

My thoughts on CDC and also the need for Government to expand the highway was interrupted by security checks on the way – near the toll gate, at the popular Miselele market and at Miondo bar. Checks were mounted by elements of Routier (highway police), the Police and Gendarmerie. At these check points, it seems every driver – especially the commercial vehicle drivers know what to do as soon as they are whistled to stop and clear off the road. They approached the security personnel with their vehicle documents, which are received and again released in exchange for 500 FRS or 100 FRS cfa as the case may be. For the few minutes we spent at each of the check points, many commercial and private vehicles were stopped but none were checked; not even the passengers or vehicle occupants. I really wondered about the essence of security checks when nothing and nobody is checked. It was more of a cash contribution to security elements. Amazingly, many drivers perform this “road ritual” of cash donation with excitement. “If you refuse to give money, they will apply all measures to scrutinize and delay you. It’s a waste of time. If your documents are complete, they will take money, if they are not, they will still collect money”, our bus driver said in lamentation as he drove off the last checkpoint. “This is indeed extortion and smiling”, I muttered. May be that explains why many drivers that ply this highway hardly have proper vehicle documents. Afterall, it is cash that is checked and not documents.


After the last check, we got to Bekoko junction – main entrance into Douala commercial city and gateway out of Douala to other parts of Littoral, West, Northwest and even Southwest Regions. At Bekoko the first lap of our trip ended. We boarded another vehicle at the mini motor park and headed towards the Bekoko-Nkonsamba highway. It was same “road rituals” for drivers at security checkpoints. However, here is a better road – smoothly tarred but not expanded enough for a highway of its magnitude. ‘Narrow’ may be a common feature of road networks in Cameroon, and that is why road accident is also a common occurrence. On the side ways, the Socapalm and other private palm plantations stretched out; including the CDC rubber plantation at Kompina. Smokes from micro oil palm press located at different spots rock the atmosphere. Medium size lorry oil tankers were loading processed palm oil from small plastic containers placed at the road sides by their owners. People were really very busy here.


Thirty-five minutes drive from Bekoko got us to Kombe Market or better still Pendaboko Junction. This is a popular stopover along the highway. It is also one of the famous food crop markets in the Littoral Region and Mbanga rural Council in particular. It is equally the gateway into and out of Koto community and Pendaboko. I followed my contact Ngom Kome towards the direction he was going and my senses soaked in the scenery before me. The details registered. The environment I found myself was typical of a motor park in Cameroon. Confusion and measure of insanity reigns – noisy drinking bars with echoes of loud music, petit traders and hawkers jostling around for their daily bread. Drivers, vehicle loaders and other motor park touts shout and run helter-skelter at the sight of persons asking for their destination. Places like this are obvious safe haven for petit thieves.


“Pa, una di go wusai”(meaning-where are you going), a voice shouted in pidgin English. “Koto UP, Koto Eshimbi, Pendaboko camp, Corner wata”, other voices echoed as Ngom Kome and I approached what seemed to me like a motorbike park at a corner of this junction.  Several of them were here, of different make and model – Sanili, Nanfang, Benco, etc. I saw the Chinese technology in display which I believe tells much on the cordial Chino-Cameroon trade and economic relation. Who benefits more from this trade relation is an issue for economist and economic analyst to deliberate on. Some experts have said that the proliferation of this brand of Chinese technology in Cameroon has been a blessing. It has provided alternative means of transportation especially in the rural areas. Generally, it has been a source of livelihood to many – direct and indirect employment to youths who forms the bulk of riders and repairers; business to spare part dealers, importers, etc. However, as these blessings abound, so do curses or tragedies even more. The high rate of urban and rural tragic deaths and sudden physical deformation especially among the youths has been linked to ghastly motor bike accidents.


I realized that many of the motor bike riders here were youths – of under 20’s and 30’s. It struck me why these boys preferred commercial bike riding to going to school. While engulfed in my thoughts, my contact Ngom Kome negotiated a motorbike to carry both of us. I objected to this and on my insistence, he got another bike for me. I did not object out of indignation but I really considered the risk involved in riding ‘double’ on a bike, in a dusty-bumpy earth road moreso with no covering helmet. For this reason also, I warned the bike rider brought to me to go easy and slow which he obliged me. The bike rider gave me his name as Nelson – 22 years old from Northwest Region. He lives with his parents who relocated to Koto for farming. “I dropped out of school at form three due to financial constraint. But I have been able to finish apprenticeship in furniture making. I am doing this bike work on lease for now, to support my parents buy my working tools and get a workshop”; Nelson told me as we discussed on our way.


Riding into the wide dusty earth road ahead of us; we got to the first village in Koto community few minutes later. This is called ‘KOTO-UP’. Between the Motor Park and Koto-Up is what I called a “vacuum”. It is a vacuum of sprawling expanse of land on both sides of the earth road that seems endless in sight. It is cultivated mainly with cassava food crops and rubber plantations which is larger in size; belonging to some influential individuals and CDC. This should be one of the wonders of this community. From Koto-Up, we got to another village called Koto-Eshimbi, our final destination. It was a big relief, after a less than 6 km ride on motor bike.


My contact Ngom Kome left me at a thatched village drinking spot to get the local wood dealers. We had a good discussion with them and I engaged them to do the job. My discussion with them however gave me more insight about this community. I saw a village or community of hardworking young men and women, even the old; going about their activities as early as possible. Many of them have one destination – their farms. I also saw a community that is deprived of basic amenities or infrastructure. This actually made me decide to make a return trip to KOTO.