“I’m always anxious when using the gas these days.I have to make sure our gas last for at least 3 months”,a woman told her colleague.She cooks the days meal in one go as the family tries to make ends meet on her husband’s monthly earnings of 50,000frs.
The woman who decided to be anonymous is amongst the several Cameroonians hit by the scarcity of cooking gas.
Another housewife Mrs.Gladys a food vendor says she has gone for three weeks without cooking gas.
“It’s been 3 weeks now and we don’t have gas and when it’s available,it is sold very expensive.I can’t imagine gas that used to be sold for 6500frs is now 15,000frs,”she said.
“I have not sold for 3 days now because of no gas,we are suffering”!she added.
At filling stations in some neighborhoods in Yaounde,long queues are formed thronged by thousands of weary residents.They are either in search of the SCTM gas amongst others.
Perched on her gas bottle Nde Cyndy fished out a plastic bag of flour pancakes from her handbag. It was the only thing she was eating that day.
“I’ve gone 2 weeks without cooking gas now. I once waited for four days for kerosene and I still didn’t get anything,” she said.
“Everyone is suffering, what can we do ?”
Cooking gas has been scarce for months, while many petrol stations had halted sales to ordinary people two weeks ago to conserve fuel for essential vehicles, bringing much of the country to a standstill.
Many of those waiting in line were women, desperate to get gas to cook their families’ meals after months of relying on chopped wood to light their fires, which they found expensive and impractical.
The Government has however been silent on the issue,though efforts have been made to ensure cooking gas is readily available.
But many experts say economic mismanagement is to blamed