Editorial: Bamenda-Babadjou road; The power of press advocacy.

In its dilapidated state, the Minister of Public Works., Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, as early as Tuesday May 18, 2017, announced the reconstruction of the 35 kilometre stretch.

He later at a three-day evaluation work of 78 road projects in the country on June 10, 2018, gave the assurance that the Bamenda-Babadjou Road would be constructed in "due time". 

He said the Babadjou section was in progress while the Bamenda lap was being delayed because of
security threats.

During a visit to the North West Region in 2021, the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, saw the neglect as he galloped and hurtled through it to Bamenda.

He promised to talk to the contractors given the job to start work as soon as he got back to Yaounde.

At the time, The Guardian Post wished him success, “hoping his promise shall not be like that of his Public Works Minister.

Also, speaking in Bamenda on Tuesday July 28, 2022, during the first seminar meeting of the committee aimed at evaluating the level of execution of Public Investment Projects in the Region, Hon Wallang Richard, said for work to fully take its steam, there was need for peace and team work from everybody.

He had stated that there were still doubting Thomases who had not accepted the fact that contracts for effective work on that road had been awarded.

He was supported by a statement on January 4, 2022, when the Minister of Public Works, Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, said the contract had been awarded to an indigenous firm, Ste Buns, for 13.8 billion FCFA for rehabilitation works, after the initial contractor had abandoned work on January 14, 2021, following an attack by armed separatist hooligans. 

Sogea Satom, first winner of the construction contract at the time, withdrew from the project, “arguing with a case of force majeure related to the security crisis in the project area”. 

The company claimed 4.5 billion FCFA for destruction of their equipment by the fighters. Government is said to have settled for 1.5 billion FCFA for compensation.

The lack of finance and insecurity kept providing reasons for rebranded excuses, many of which The Guardian Post considered as flimsy, to delay reconstruction.

With those maddening delays, the conditions of the road worsened and a journey that could take just 30 minutes on a good road usually took some tormenting six hours and, on a few occasions, passengers slept on the road.

But why the delay that bordered on marginalisation? Did President Biya in his New Year message to the nation on December 31, 1983, not say: "We will have, in particular, to pursue the establishment of a model society that symbolises the New Social Order and whose ultimate good is social justice, that is, organising the fair distribution of the fruits of our collective effort among the various social groupings..."?

Time has, however, proved that the concept of equity has remained hollow as the Bamenda-Babadjou Road was a deathtrap and unkept promises kept being recycled even before the conflict erupted in the North West and South West Regions.

The road was a nightmare and after years of consistent, persistent and persuasive journalism by this daily newspaper, we pricked the bile of the government to tar the Bamenda-Babadjou Road.

 This is aptly called the power of press advocacy.

There are credible reports by people who have passed through the road recently, confirming not only that it is more than 90 per cent complete but also hailing the road’s impressive quality.

The Guardian Post, which incessantly throttled for the government to keep its numerous promises on the road, can today proudly say it is almost time to pop champagne and also say "better late than never".

But that idiomatic expression is pejorative. The excuses and failed promises can be excused with another idiom that "all is well that ends well," even though both idioms have sniping connotations in certain circumstances as a mark of inertia, laziness and laissez-faire, which should not be tolerated in a proactive regime for whatever reason.

We are nonetheless delighted that the success of the work has been credited to an indigenous contractor who won the contract in a bid contested for by international conglomerates. Kudos to the local contractors.

At The Guardian Post, we make bold to, like a lizard, nod our heads and boast we played an immeasurable role that pushed government to get the Bamenda-Babadjou Road to its present 93% realisation level.