Taxi drivers cautioned against operating without identification badges

For some time, badges for taxi drivers are becoming increasingly scarce in the economic capital. The identification of taxi drivers is no longer news in the city of Douala.

For some time, they, despite the absence of their identification badge, circulate freely without any concern. An inspection made this Tuesday, September 30 in some points of parking resulted to this observation.

While glancing through a long row of taxis waiting impatiently to be loaded prior to departure, the observation is surprising. On approximately twelve vehicles present, none has an identification badge.

According to some drivers, this absence is due not only to the fact that many of them do not yet have control of the city, but because of the high cost of the creation of the document, necessary for the establishment of the badge.

"I do not have a badge because I have not yet made the document known as capacity '' The document is the paper that certifies that I have control of all areas of the city.

"To say for true, I can't have this document any soon, because we must pay almost 80.000 Fcfa to establish it, an amount which is not easy to come about for a taxi driver of my State", Amah Cliford stated. According to Edouard Yetchang, the Secretary general of the National Union of urban and long distance carriers, the disappearance of this identification in the taxis is due to the fact that roadside checks have also disappeared. "The Director general of the national security and the Secretariat of State for defence (Sed) have instructed permanent police controls by the gendarmerie and the unions on our roads.

Except that, at the level of the police, according to other, "The Sed and the national gendarmerie were ordered to stop controls inside the city until further notice. The taxi drivers are aware of this, that is why they do what they want," said a police source.