Urban Organisation: Need To Rethink Our Towns

Municipal authorities in Cameroon are now bracing up for the cleanest town competition that has for some years now been organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.  The competition that has handsome prizes for the winners spans through the divisional, regional and national levels. 
As in the previous editions of the cleanest town competition, government has in the 2025 edition set a number of criteria based on which competitors will be judged.  The criteria as reportedly stated by the Littoral Regional Delegate of Housing and Urban Development, Anatole Mengue where the competition was launched on February 18, 2025 for the region, revolve around urban development. In details, competing municipalities will be judged on issues such as cleaning of gutters, decoration of the frontage of buildings along the main streets, pruning of trees along the streets, development of public roads and gardens, management of liquid and solid waste and development of green spaces. In addition, they will be scored based on how the municipal authorities involve the  local population in hygiene and sanitation activities with focus on hygiene and sanitation days,  means deployed in urban development campaigns, involvement of  associations, as well as  women and youths.
Despite the annual organisation of the cleanest town competition, many towns in Cameroon still leave much to be desired. Their visibility is still a teething issue, thereby begging for the rethink of our towns.  The country’s major cities like the political capital Yaounde, economic capital Douala and other fast-growing ones like Bamenda and Bafoussam are endowed with wonderful infrastructural buildings that are sprouting up in all nooks and crannies.  However, the rapid urbanization does not correspond to town planning and urban development exigencies.  The towns develop in disorder without proper tracing of urban roads, extension of electricity and potable water supply.  
Access roads to many neighbourhoods  in our towns and cities are inexistent  and digging of the roads after heavy infrastructural investments in most of the areas often confronts the problems of compensation of  people before their property is destroyed  for the roads, electricity power supply lines and potable pipe-borne supply pipes and related structures to be put up.   Municipal authorities need to be proactive by first of all developing all inclusive urban plans to meet the exigencies of their rapid expansion and modernism. Municipal authorities have to be futuristic in their visions and plan for the suitable development of towns in their council areas ahead of construction of social amenities, public institutions, private homes and businesses.
Even in towns where a few roads have been dug, these roads need constant and proper rehabilitation.  The municipal authorities, local stakeholders and the population must imbibe the culture of maintenance. The cleanest town competition therefore has to serve as the catalyst to permanently rescue our towns from the chronic problems of rehabilitation of roads, proper drainage, permanent evacuation of garbage and its proper disposal, treatment and disposal of household liquid and solid waste.
Transforming our towns to be permanently attractive, clean and modern requires that all stakeholders go back to the drawing board and effectively implement good practices. There has to be a complete overhaul of town planning and urban development systems with each municipality taking it as a major concern and cause.  Transformation requires a change of mind-set and complete departure from the deviant practices to embracing modern, inclusive and participatory ways of keeping our towns and cities clean. For example, the maintenance of hygiene and sanitation should become a culture starting from the way each individual treats and disposes household waste, and maintenance of hygiene and sanitation in public spaces. The population needs to appropriat...