Urban crimes: Urgency for prevention.

Other commentators with popular arguments, however, say it is meant to deter potential criminals from emulating the diabolic examples of urban crimes.

Last week, humanity was flabbergasted, as nerve-racking videos trending in the social media, showed four youth, some said to be in their teens, who had slit the neck of their victim, Dinga Protus, a Limbe-based businessman, who recently returned home to invest in real estate development in Kie village, near Limbe.

The four suspects, arrested in Limbe and Mutengene, in connection to the murder, were paraded in public.

The prime suspect who led investigators to the shallow grave where their victim was buried, reportedly confirmed the grave had been prepared before luring their victim to the site. He further claimed their prey owed him approximately four million FCFA.

According to investigators, the victim was told by the main suspect, who worked for him, that a neighbour had encroached into his plot and that he should bring the documents for the boundary dispute to be resolved.

When they arrived at the plot, three assailants the main suspect had hired from Mutengene, emerged from the bush, beat him up, slit his throat and hurriedly buried him.

Investigation by the police divulged further that the mastermind of the macabre murder fled the scene, after the killing and taking away the victim's car and personal documents.

He was later seen having a drink at a beer parlour in Sokolo, before being tracked by the police and arrested. He is said to have, in his collaboration with investigators, enabled the arrest of all four alleged accomplices in their hideout in Mutengene, Tiko Subdivision.

Such heinous crimes have been common in the country, with the murder of taxi and bike drivers in cities like Yaounde, Edea and Buea, just to name a few, so as to dispossess them of their vehicles and bikes.

The Guardian Post commends the quick intervention of the police and arrest of suspects. However, there is the urgent need for defence and security forces to be more pre-emptive in prevention.

As pointed out by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, "crime and violence are constantly evolving phenomena, which are closely linked to the patterns of growth of countries and cities. Large cities in developing countries, and particularly their poorest and most disadvantaged inhabitants, are those most frequently afflicted by urban crime and violence".

Prevention as has been pointed out by various academic research, is not only the duty of the defence and security forces, but that of the government, which should understand that crime rate, is often motivated by poverty, caused by unemployment.

The UN notes that the "speed of urbanisation, the inability of cities to provide sufficient infrastructure, and the widening disparities in income and access to services among their populations create conditions that continue to foster crime".

The UN adds that "income inequality, youth unemployment and significant slum populations are just some of the reasons that contribute to the increase in urban crime, whether it is violence associated with drug trafficking, trafficking in human beings, youth gangs or more generally in public spaces. It affects safety in homes, schools, commercial establishments, public transport and sports and other public venues".

There is no doubt about the soaring demography of Cameroonian cities and sub-urban areas, which are often affected by crime, be them murder, kidnapping, scamming or theft, which have become a real scourge in the country.

They have certainly overwhelmed the defence and security forces, which should explain the proliferation of private security companies in the country.

With the skyrocketing crime rate in the country, the focus should be more on "prevention", which as the saying goes "is better than cure".

That prevention should include a multifaceted approach, encompassing community engagement that compels government to provide more opportunities and an enabling environment for job creation, because "an idle mind is the devil's workshop," as illustrated by last week's murder in Limbe. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3447 of Tuesday May 13, 2025