After close to five years of uninterrupted
residency and quiet enjoyment in a relatively quiet suburb of Buea - to be preciseMuea-, this
writer has been compelled to move (something he has dreaded and hated since
childhood since it entails re-starting the emotionally expensive process of
making new friends and getting accustomed to new places). He has contracted
aching legs and stress combing through most of the nooks and crannies of up and
coming neighbourhoods. He has journeyed to the frontiers of the city. He has
seen Beverly Hills mansions. He has seen houses but hasn’t seen any house to
rent.
It will be a
lie to say Buea is not witnessing a housing crisis. But it would be an even
bigger lie not to admit that this crisis is virtual as Buea is littered with
rain-beaten and sun-baked room apartment and house –to- let signs. In his
house searching outings, this writer saw many of these signs, took numbers and
called, knocked and inquired only to be asked big sums and obese upfront payments.
Upon setting out, this writer planned to upgrade his housing status and
move into a bed room and parlour apartment - a step up from his one-room
castle. After reading one of those apartments to let signs, this writer called
the number next to the sign and was informed that the two rooms and parlour
apartment would be his at 65,000 CFAF monthly and if he could pay a ten month
advance – this is outside his financial reach. Next he was informed of a room and parlour apartment - 35,000 CFAF monthly and 10 months upfront payment. This writer found other houses
well within his financial reach and within thieves’, diseases and cleanliness’
as well. He would have gladly taken it as suggested by the urgency of his need
and the depth of his pocket but he thought of the toilet and all the prayers
and fasting taking a dump in them necessitated; he thought of the guys lurking
in the shadows of the long stretch from the road to the house. He know some will
scoff at this post, saying it is just what a poor man would say and they are entitled to their
opinion. But this begs the question of whether the poor like this writer are
not entitled to decent, clean and secure housing? If only the rich have the right to aspire to such housing, what becomes of social justice?
Buea like
most cities in Cameroon, and Africa I imagine, are witnessing a real estate
boom. Buea’s most specifically is spurred by the University of Buea and the
consequent ever-growing need for housing for students. This has triggered not
only a building frenzy but also something of a rent and advance inflation
frenzy that has rippled across the entire city, far from the epicentre where
this is understandable and even justified. To avoid the stress of
rent-collecting from many tenants and relieve students from the stress of
thinking about meeting the monthly rent-payment deadline, one understands that
owners of student hostels can demand a year’s upfront payment for access to their
hostels. Unfortunately even owners of non-hostel houses now exact such rents and upfront payments usually reserved for hostels and houses in upscale areas. Building
a house is no mean fit but getting tenants who can pay huge rents and advances
isn’t either. I know somebody will still see this as a poor man’s outcry but
once again why must development always be synonymous with the systemic
exclusion of the poor. In Buea’s case, the issue of rising housing costs and
the hard affordability of decent, secure and clean housing is crucial because housing has even been undercurrent in University of Buea students' reasons for striking: remember the attempted 2007 standardisation of Buea hostels into A,B,C,D. This issue deserves urgent
attention because if unchecked it will destroy the city's legendary hospitality reputation.
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