Estimated to cost FCFA 2 billion, the Special Gifts from Cameroon’s Head of state, Paul Biya include:
- 50,000 cartons of laundry soap, that is four million pieces of soap;
- One million five hundred thousand facemasks for the population;
- Fifty thousand surgical masks for health personnel;
- Seventy-five thousand buckets for household use;
- Forty thousand 30-litre hand-washing cans;
- Rapid screening test kits
- Respiratory devices for hospitals.
In a press release Monday, April 20, 2020, the Minister of Territorial Administration, Atanga Nji revealed that the special donation is destined for vulnerable persons of the 360 Municipalities in the country and falls within measures to stop the spread of the corona virus.
“The Minister of Territorial Administration is pleased to inform the national and international community that within the framework of reinforcing measures aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19 among the population in Cameroon, the President of the Republic, H.E. Paul Biya, has decided to offer a Special Gift to the 360 Subdivisions of the country,” Atanga Nji said.
“This Special Gift should not be mistaken for actions of the Special Solidarity Fund created by the Head of State on the sidelines of this pandemic.”
In about ten days, the Minister says the hygienic products and medical kits, Special Gifts from the Head of State to the Cameroonian people, will be transported from the Yaoundé City Council by a hundred heavy-duty trucks to the ten regions and will be received by the various regional Governors.
He emphasizes that, “Each regional governor will be charged with the responsibility of channeling the Special Gifts of the Head of State to the Divisions and Subdivisions of his region of command. The distribution will be overseen at the level of the Region by the Governor, at the Division by the Senior Divisional Officer and at the level of the Subdivision by the Subdivisional Officer. The Head of State, H.E. President Paul Biya, insists on local distribution so that the assistance reaches the main beneficiaries, especially the vulnerable population wherever they are found within the national territory.”
Similarly, the Minister of Territorial Administration underlines that the Head of State has prescribed the intensification of sensitization campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic in all ten regions of the country. As such, administrative authorities at all levels absolutely need to fully get involved in this campaign and in so doing, insist on government’s combat measures as communicated by the Prime Minister, Head of Government.
“Administrative Authorities have to focus on barrier measures like the regular washing of hands with soap and running water, compulsory wearing of facemasks in all public spaces and social distancing in markets, churches, mosques, schools etc.
“The teams of the Department of Civil Protection of the Ministry of Territorial Administration will be dispatched to the 10 regions to assist the administrative authorities in this awareness campaign and the distribution of the Special Gift from the Head of State.” With 1017 known positive cases of COVID-19, Cameroon has recorded 305 recoveries, 42 deaths, 176 currently hospitalized and 33 on oxygen.
