Garbage cans are not an issue in French Cameroun. They attract the crowds and serve as exhibitions centers for artistic objects. Many businessmen and women display their goods next to garbage cans or sell take away and sometimes consume food in garbage areas.  Do not try to tell a Cameroonian who is having his meal next to a garbage can that he is in a place not meant for food consumption.

Even more, do not tell any Cameroonians that living with garbage falls short of national and international hygienic standards. They will send back to you the old well-known catch-all in Cameroon, “dirt does not kill a black man,” “I’ve been eating next to garbage cans since my childhood it has not killed me “.

In reality, the presence of garbage cans that bloom in the neighborhoods every day does not move people in Yaoundé, let alone in the other metropolises and localities of the country. In the absence of rigorous management, the agents of the Hysacam Company, whose main mission is to ensure cleanliness, hygiene and public health, do not always fulfill their tasks on a daily basis. Garbage cans are presence throughout the national territory.

In general, people believe that the presence of garbage cans throughout Cameroon is linked to the incivility of citizens and the laxity of public authorities.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Cameroon Intelligence Report