Yaounde as citadel of 6,000 bars

Cameroon’s political capital, Yaounde, that has an estimated population of close to two and a half million people, is also the citadel of some 6,000 bars and off licenses.

Going by statistics made available by the trade union of bar owners and beer wholesale operators, there are currently 6,000 bars and off licenses in Yaounde, many of which are illegal.

Yaounde’s image as the fief of beer consumers is illustrated in statistics published by the brewing company, Les Brasseries du Cameroun. In its annual report, the company revealed that 600 million litres of beer were consumed in Yaounde in 2012. But the onus of the problem is not the excessive consumption of beer in the capital city. What is amiss here is that, many bar owners violate the law and operate in total illegality with impunity.

They disregard Presidential decree No. 90/1482 of November 9, 1990, that regulates business activities in the sector. The decree defines conditions and modalities for the sale of drinks. The Presidential decree makes it clear that drinking spots should be situated at a safe distance away from hospitals, schools and churches. According to Article 14 of the decree, bars should be situated, at least, 200 meters from hospitals, schools and churches.

But bar owners in Yaounde are violating such a legal provision with impunity. Here, bars and off licenses cohabit with churches, schools and hospitals. Just a stone throw from the Yaounde University Teaching Hospital in the Melen neighborhood, is a jungle of bars.

In the Obili neighborhood, the bars are very close neighbours to churches, schools and health centers. The Saint Anne Parish at Chapelle Obili is flanked by drinking spots that are spreading like mushrooms all over the place. Worse, in the Mini Firm neighborhood, bars and health centers co-habit in the same buildings. It is common to have the noise a drunk makes, distract students and teachers in class because the bar and the school are too close to call.

Some of the bar owners seemed to have ignored every aspect of the Law regulating the sector. Article 3 of Section 4 of the Presidential decree states that; off licenses are opened as from 6.00am to 9.00pm, while bars, snack bars and other drinking spots operate from 6.00am to midnight. But a majority of bar owners hardly respects this aspect of the Law. Even off-licences operate till dawn. The administration seems not to be very committed in strictly applying the Law.

In 2012, the Senior Divisional Officer for Mfoundi and Yaounde VI administration launched a campaign to close down all bars and other drinking spots operating illegally at Mini Ferme. But, as one observer put it, “It was the illegal bars that closed the administrative officials”. The illegal bars came back in full force as soon as the administrative officials turned their backs.

The Post learned that the officials equally faced stiff resistance from owners of illegal inns that are operating as full-fledged brothels. It was reported that the prostitutes who hang out in the neighborhood every evening, in all arrogance as if prostitution has been legalised in Cameroon, were ready to fight the administration by every means, if they persisted with their campaign.

Observers hold that Cameroon is just becoming a jungle, because, the authorities have allowed some individuals and institutions to violate the Law with impunity. The proliferation of illegal bars, coupled with the noise pollution that they produce, has become a public nuisance.

This goes on despite the fact that there is a Prime Ministerial decree prohibiting noise pollution in the neighborhood. The decree No 2011/2583/PM of August 23, 2011, prohibits noise pollution that has degenerated to public nuisance. Bars and Pentecostal churches in Yaounde have largely ignored such legal provisions.