Power of advocacy journalism: Authorities begin clearing garbage across Yaounde after The Guardian Post report.

The seeming wake from slumber is linked to the in-depth report The Guardian Post newspaper did on the eyesore Yaounde had become, with the sight of piles of garbage just everywhere.

The Guardian Post had, in its edition of Tuesday August 25, 2026, carried a banner headline, titled: Mandate of Greatness & Hope: Voici Yaounde.” 

In the same edition, the newspaper, on its front page, published pictures, portraying the scandalous dirty nature of the nation’s capital. Some of the pictures showed mountain of abandoned dirt on major streets in Yaounde, some releasing stinking water.

It was followed on August 26, 2026, by an editorial, titled: “Poor waste management: When Yaounde suffocates, nation is hospitalised.”

Thanks to such consistency, scores of council workers and other municipal officials were spotted at major road sections, earnestly clearing household rubbish into standby trucks on Friday August 28, 2026. 

This happened while the ministers of Decentralisation and Local Development; Georges Elanga Obam; Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji; and the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Celestine Ketcha Courtes, alongside administrators watched on.

The team of officials descended to the streets after an inter-ministerial meeting, summoned at the behest of proactive MINAT boss, Paul Atanga Nji. It held at the Ministry of Territorial Administration.

Where were we before now?

Before The Guardian Post extensively tickled the nation’s conscience on the shameful outlook of Yaounde, authorities had gone to sleep while the city was stinking.

City dwellers, cars and motorcycles had been forced into adopting archaic survival methods as the volume of dirt kept increasing every night. 

For weeks, residents of most neighourhoods had been accustomed to waking every dawn to new piles of dirt. 

People grumbled in vain while those in places of authority, often fought their way through filth to their offices and back home daily. Some even pretended as though Yaounde was cleaner than in the yesterday years.

The Guardian Post triggers redress measures

It took the descend of The Guardian Post team across the city, capturing and detailing the extent of the rottenness of Yaounde, for something to be done. 

People in the corridors of power, we gathered, networked to clear the heaps of dirt after millions of citizens became more aware of the sad development, thanks to the advocacy of The Guardian Post.

Millions of citizens used The Guardian Post’s publications of Tuesday, August 25, and Wednesday, August 26, to confront and shame those in power, provoking the save face measures now in place to redress the situation.

Across social media networks, The Guardian Post’s graphic presentation of block streets, citing the exact location, left even regime cronies and barons lip tied.

The interministerial meeting of last Friday, authoritative sources said, was ordered after a review of the highly unhygienic nature of Yaounde, as was exposed to the world by The Guardian Post.

The Guardian Post & historic advocacy successes 

The Guardian Post has continued to get unending applause; covert and overt, for journalism that prioritises general interest. 

For media and development experts, the reactions of authorities tell of the huge impact and credibility of The Guardian Post in influencing national development.

When it comes to advocacy, The Guardian Post has recorded numerous successes in pushing for adjustments and shifts that bring good to the general public.

The newspaper didn’t just delve into shaming the powers that be and calling for action out of adventure. It was conscious of the extent of its audience, including in the corridors of decision making, where the newspaper is widely read and respected.

Though the heaps are yet to fully be cleared, most of those that had become more disturbing to urban life for millions of Yaounde denizens have been cleared. Authorities have equally pledged to clear the rest in quick succession within two weeks. 

This is another milestone for The Guardian Post in its development advocacy for years and still counting. It is a road the newspaper has been on, recording successes which no one is indifferent to.

The Bamenda-Babadjou road is one project in recent memory wherein The Guardian Post demonstrated its penetrative influence in pushing for change.

The media organ ran a non-stop two-week advocacy, which left government and its partners with no choice than to complete the project. When the Bamenda-Babadjou road was eventually completed and inaugurated, the newspaper ran a banner headline titled: “Bamenda-Babadjou road: The battle we fought.” 

It was also The Guardian Post that took on separatist fighters and their financiers who had at some time vowed to frustrate the project for the required atmosphere to set in. 

Today, the road has seen the light of day and is being used by citizens. The Guardian Post also demonstrated its weight in the quest for effective schooling across the crisis-hit North West and South West Regions. 

The reasonable attendance in schools across the two Regions can’t be told without the advocacy of The Guardian Post. It is the media organ that took the issue personal, appealing to consciences and getting stakeholders to give education a chance.

Thousands of children are back in classrooms in the two English-speaking Regions, hugely because The Guardian Post continues to watch society within the prism.

The nosedive in separatist activities across the two English-speaking Regions is also an area The Guardian Post has worked on to ensure Cameroon remains in one piece.

The Guardian Post continues to stand against Anglophone marginalisation but detests anything that threatens the country’s territorial integrity. 

If the secessionist movement is getting weaker and weaker, it is also essentially because The Guardian Post, in the spirit of advocacy journalism, continues to militate for a united Cameroon. 

On Anglophone marginalisation in Cameroon, The Guardian Post has in the last 25 years and still counting, continue to speak out and pushing for corrective measures.

Several appointments have been made with Anglophone presence today, partly thanks to The Guardian Post’s advocacy. Just before 2018, it was almost a taboo to talk of an Anglophone heading the ministries of Secondary Education and Territorial Administration.

Even without anyone applauding, The Guardian Post stayed on the issues and close to a decade on, things, observers are saying, have at least changed.

To this day, political watchers have continued to say the story of having Anglophones occupying the ministries of Territorial Administration and Secondary Education, cannot be told without mention of the efforts made by The Guardian Post.  

It is the same for ongoing works on the Bamenda Ring Road, wherein the newspaper kept reminding President Paul Biya about his promise to get the road done for several years.

When the famous Kumba-Buea and Kumba-Mamfe stretches were in terrible states, The Guardian Post stayed forceful in advocating their tarring. Several other examples abound.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3895 of Monday August 31, 2026