CI-NEWS

Bamenda 1 IDPS benefit from Government’s humanitarian assistance.

2019-08-12

No: 440

Bamenda 1 IDPS benefit from Government’s humanitarian assistance.

By Etoh Anzah George in Bamenda.

The emergency humanitarian aid distribution plan launched by government to assuage the suffering of persons displaced or made destitute as a result of Anglophone crisis is deep into its implementation phase. It is within this framework that some IDPs from the Bamenda 1 Sub-division over the week benefitted from goodies distributed to improve their living standards.

At the first distribution phase sometime in July 23, some 27 families corresponding to 100 IDPs received assistance. This adds to 67 families, equivalent to 300 IDPs who received the aid, making a total of 400 beneficiaries of the gesture.

Speaking at the event, the D.O for Bamenda 1, Gilbert Guibaii Baldena, urged them to make proper use of the donations and not the other way round. He further reassured the IDPs and the entire population that the government is doing everything possible for a return to a normalcy. He thus urged them to collaborate with administrative and defence forces in a bid to ascertain the highly prized peace. The administrator further entreated them to advise their brothers who he said had taken the way of adventure by taking up arms against the state to leave the bushes and consider dropping the arms and be reintegrated in society through the national center for disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration (DDR) for a back to social and active life. To him they "don't have a future in the bush. I therefore urge them to drop their weapons because they are our brothers and nothing concrete can be gotten from there".

He further urged them to consider sending their children to school at the September 2 reopening date. The gifts which ranged from mattresses, blankets, tins of sardines, cooking oil and some bags of rice were saluted by many while others claimed they had been neglected and impartially allocated their due.

To many, the bags of rice which coordinators say have been kept for undisclosed reasons is in a bid to jeopardize their conditions which they thought should be rather improved upon.

Speaking at the esplanade of the North West Governor’s Office, the representative of the mayor for Bamenda 1, Mr Shey Denis, saluted the government’s efforts for such a gesture and prayed the propagators of the present abnormalcy to cease from such an advocacy so that the IDPs can return home. To him the handling of the fate of the over 300 IDPs hasn’t been easy. As such, it is deeply regretted this has lasted this long, making social collaboration difficult.

Coming at a time when many continue to insist on a true and sincere dialogue as a means to end the atrocities, there are therefore divided hopes as to a speedy outcome. It should be noted that the donation is not the first of its kind, but doubts persist as to whether this would serve its purpose.

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

Bamenda 1 IDPS benefit from Government’s humanitarian assistance.