Epileptic Power Supply In Bamenda, A Mixed Blessing To Many.

By Raymond Dingana

For many months now, inhabitants of Bamenda in the North West Region of Cameroon have been suffering under the weight of unstable electricity supply. The people have been experiencing electricity rationing which according to an official of the electricity company in Bamenda has been so because of the technical challenges the company has been experiencing. According to one of the workers  who opted for anonymity, the generator at the Electricity Thermal Plant in Ntarikon, Bamenda II sub division cannot take care of the electricity needs of the entire region. The electricity challenges faced by the inhabitants of Bamenda is said be a mixed blessing  given that, while a lot of people are counting their loses , many others are counting their blessings and naming them one by one all thanks to the unstable nature of electricity in Bamenda.

One of those badly hit by the unstable nature of electricity in Bamenda and the North West Region as a whole are those dealing in perishables. According to this worker of a company that deals in fresh fish and other frozen foods who preferred to go by the name Dickson, their company has really been hard hit by the situation: “Our Company has really suffered as a result of the poor electricity supply in Bamenda. We throw fish on a daily basis because they are bad. This is to say that the company is losing millions on a weekly basis because what we are supposed to sell, we are forced to discard them because they are not good for consumption. This is because of the epileptic electricity surpply in Bmaenda. Even when we decide to go by generators, it’s very costly. If a generator runs for 24hours, we spent closed to 140.000FCFA”.He laments

Another worker of another cold store says they now auction fresh fish just because they want to make sales: “A kilogram of fish that we used to sell for 1000FCFA, we now sell for 400 and 600FCFA but the ones that are really bad, we throw them away. It’s really difficult on us because even to discard of the rotten fish and others, we can’t do it by ourselves; it’s the Veterinary officials that are in charged. We pay them to carry the rotten fish away which to me it’s not suppose to be like that, are we the cost of the electricity problem? We pay them the money because we don’t want to be selling rotten fish to the population but I know of places where they sell rotten fish to people and they are not punished because monies have changed hands between them and the powers that be”. “We pray that the situation is brought under control so that we don’t continue to  record loses instead of  making gains, we are business people for God’s sake and no business man is out to make loses”. He ended.

Madam Ndifor is a house wife; she says her fridges are now useless given that she cannot use them anymore. She says: “I used to stock my fridges with perishables and other items to prepare for rainy days but ever since electricity in Bamenda turned epileptic, life has never been the same again. Life has really been difficult for the family; I am compelled to buy green spices, tomatoes and other vegetables whenever I want to prepare food for the family which is not the way I used to function. I tried using a generator but it was very costly for the family. Buying fuel, the noise, and the smoke emanating from the generator also constitute a health hazard”.

Many have also complained that, the unstable electricity situation in Bamenda has destroyed their mobile phones and other electrical appliances. Lillian is one of those whose mobile phone and other electrical appliances have been damaged as a result of the epileptic electricity situation in Bamenda: “I was using a generator to charge my phone and it exploded alongside my flat screen TV set and many others. Since then I have not been able to get for myself another android mobile phone and another flat screen TV set”.

In as much as the unstable electricity situation has dealt a heavy blow to businesses and households in Bamenda and its environs, there are clear indications that, the electricity situation has equally been a blessing to many other businesses. According to this generator vendor in Bamenda who preferred to remain anonymous, the electricity challenges facing Bamenda and its environs is good for business: “Business has been wonderful, I have made some good sales for the past months ever since Bamenda started facing electricity challenges. I started making a lot of money when Tubah sub division was first hit and when the rest of Bamenda started facing the same challenges, I had to take a loan from my bank to stock my shop with generators because I knew the situation was going to take some time before it is adjusted ”.  Asked whether sales have increased likewise the price of generators, he says: “Yes, sales have greatly improved and as a business man, when demand is high, price has to also witness an increase which is what I have been doing. It is not my fault, I am just a business man making use of the opportunity god has given me”.

   When asked if he will be happy if the electricity situation is addressed anytime soon, it took him some time to reluctantly say yes saying he is also feeling the pinch given that he also uses generators both at his business site and also at home. He says though fuel is expensive, the gains he makes from the sale of his generators and the loses he suffers running the generators at his business site and also at home are distance away from each other.

latest report from the office of the electricity  company in Bamenda say, the electricity situation in Bamenda has been brought under control even though at press time, some neighborhoods were still in darkness.

                                      Rotten Fish In Cold Stores In Bamenda


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