Before the outbreak of Covid-19 in Cameroon, some parts of North West and South West regions were already facing a ‘beeping’ power supply .
Since February 26, 2020, inhabitants of Bamenda, Buea and other English speaking regions have complained they haven’t enjoyed a constant supply of energy for twelve hours without an outage.
As if the indoor pressure and news of Coronavirus in Cameroon wasn’t enough, the monopoly company has cut full supply of energy in most parts of the country.
Citizens complain that without electricity, they can’t get water which is necessary to maintain hygiene against coronavirus.
This reporter sampled the opinions of some readers across four affected regions
“If they want to cut lights they will not do it quietly, they go ‘on and off’ as if they are playing a game, this has destroyed many of our appliances at home” Fossimondi told us from Dschang.
“Eneo doesn’t even respect the time table they put, no lights for two weeks, all our stuffs are bad in the fridge” Joyce recounted from Kumba.
“We are unable to celebrate 12 hours of lights for a month now, it’s so sad during a pandemic ” Xavier told us Bamenda.
“It’s either you give us lights or you take your light, always ‘on and off’ we can’t have lights for even two hours continously ” Wilson from Buea
“All my electronic devices are bad due to an epileptic power supply from them” Collins from Kumbo
“Many parts of Littoral are also suffering the problem of lights” Basil from Douala
While Eneo Cameroon is unable to satisfy inhabitants of Bamenda, Dschang, Douala, Buea and many other parts of the country, Covid-19 continues to gradually creep into Cameron as the government launches a battle against it.
As of Wednesday April 23, the nationwide figure was put at 1,163 cases with 397 recovered, 176 hospitalised, 33 under oxygen therapy and 43 deaths.
The poor power supply is intensifying at a period when the nation needs it most. Two months ago, in his new years speech, president Paul Biya bragged about a plan for total emergence in Cameroon’s economy by 2035.
Many worry if emergence begins with a weak and consistently inconsistent power supply.
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