Update three years on

Projects

Since I left Maga three years ago I have kept in touch with people there and continued to co-ordinate projects which I initiated while there.  It is difficult to keep the projects going and most have run their course at this stage.  The most active project was "Uisce Beatha" under which the pumps in 82 deep wells were repaired by the end of 2013.  This number is greater than I initially thought possible but the success on repairing pumps already in disrepair has been offset by failure to put in place a process to repair pumps as they break down in the future.  The mayor had agreed that the council should take responsibility for repairs going forward and we had identified a technician and got approval for his recruitment, but he did not follow through on this.  Following local elections last year there is now a new council and a new mayor. This closes out whatever possibility there might have been for me to influence the mayor and councillors.

Local Elections

In local elections, each party puts forward a list of candidates and if any party's list gets an absolute majority of the votes the new council is made up entirely from candidates from that list.  The councillors then elect their new mayor.  While I was in Maga the mayor and all the coucillors were from the opposition UNDP party but following last year's election the new mayor and all the new councillors are from the governing RDPC party.

Security Situation

Islamist activities in the Far North of Cameroon have made it an unsafe area for Westerners.  The Boko Haram Islamist group, which perpetrates terrible atrocities, operates just across the border in Nigeria and following the Nigerian army's attempts to eradicate it some of its members have taken refuge on the Cameroonian side.  Thousands of Nigerians caught in the crossfire have also taken refuge in Cameroon and it is thought that Boko Haram fighters may be among them.  There have been skirmishes between the Cameroonian army and Boko Haram and there are reports of some Cameroonians joining Boko Haram.  Consignments of arms, probably with origins in the Central African Republic and destined for Boko Haram, have been found in Maroua.  A French family was kidnapped in the Waza wildlife park last year and a French priest was also kidnapped on the Cameroonian side of the border with Nigeria, both kidnappings claimed by Boko Haram.  At the time of writing there is news of the kidnapping of two Italian priests and a Canadian nun near Maroua.  As the security situation got worse, VSO pulled its volunteers back to Garoua, a city several hundred kilometers south of Maroua.

VSO

VSO has recently pulled out of Cameroon entirely.  It had already terminated the programme in councils on which I worked.  Its volunteers had had a very poor success rate in councils, mainly due to corruption and power plays from vested interests.