Over the last couple of days, some human rights activists have tried to sensitize Cameroonians to the worsening conditions in Cameroon’s correctional facilities, but their effort is not gathering any momentum.

Pictures of prisoners living in the worst possible conditions in the Buea central prison have gone viral and some Cameroonian rights activists find it strange that other human beings could be treated like animals.

The objective of sharing those pictures is to conscientize and sensitizes Cameroonians but Cameroonians seem to have developed metal-clad minds and consciences as the situation is not revolting to them.

The case of Buea is just the tip of the iceberg and a lot is unreported about jails in Yaoundé, Tcholire, Matoum and others where many innocent young Cameroonians and anti-government critics are being held illegally. Many have never been tried and some officials of these correctional facilities say many inmates are being held in pre-trial detention which could even last decades.

Speaking to the Cameroon Intelligence Report, a penitentiary officer of the Buea Prison said that there were many young men in the prison who were still claiming their innocence, but nobody is listening to them.

The correctional facility officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said that some law enforcement officers were simply punishing some young men for their refusal to pay bribes. He added that since the young men could not hire the services of lawyers, they were being punished for their financial poverty.

Even the authorities do not care about what is happening to the young men whose future is being ruined by vindictive police and gendarmerie officers, the officer said.

“Of course, some of the young men have committed crimes. Somewhere caught in the act. Some joined the separatists who want an independent state of Ambazonia, but keeping them in such awful conditions cannot be considered as a corrective measure,” the disappointed officer said.

“Why should a correctional facility be considered as a place where young men should meet their death? Some were arrested not based on any probable cause but rather on mere suspicion. We cannot build a better society by locking up our own youths without any solid legal justification,” the officer said.

“I am urging the Southwest regional human rights delegate and other human rights organizations to come and see the conditions in which Cameroonians are being incarcerated. Yes, some of those in jail committed crimes but it is wrong to just arrest young men who were just enjoying a drink out of home and herd them to a nasty environment like the Buea Prison,” the penitentiary officer added.

“Our country is really down the drain and those who are supposed to put the country down the right path are doing their best to eliminate youths who are supposed to work for the country’s development. I see a lot of wickedness in some of these cases and I am urging human rights organizations to step up their actions with a view to helping some of these innocent kids out of this prison,” he stressed.

There is nothing else that can shock Cameroonians. Women in labour have been turned back by unscrupulous health officials that the women could not pay for the medical services. Some of those women have died in front of those health facilities and this has never shocked Cameroonians.

Women and their children have been gunned down by government forces like the case that occurred in the country’s northern region and the unfortunate situation did not shock Cameroonians and even when the BBC conducted an elaborate investigation into the matter, Cameroonians simply went about their business and ended up in bars, drinking and celebrating.

Bad roads have led to many fatal road accidents, but these ugly situations have never caused the Cameroonian to rethink his ways. In many cases, the victims get blamed by ordinary Cameroonians who do not even understand what their rights are in a country which is clearly theirs.

If all these unfortunate situations are not shocking to Cameroonians, what else could shock them? Maybe the collapse of a brewery could cause a change of mind.

However, the government understands the importance of beer in that society and it is doing all it can to make it affordable.

By Alain Agbor Ebot