Bamenda taxi drivers at daggers drawn with transport officials

Taxi drivers in Bamenda, North West Region, are at daggers drawn with officials of the Regional Delegation of Transport, over the delegation’s introduction of what is known in French as “le certificat de la capacite.”

The certificate, new to taxi men in Bamenda, is issued to its owners as proof that the holder has a mastery of the town or city in which he operates.

Doumana Louis Roger, the Regional Delegate of Transport told Cameroon Journal on July 17, that his delegation will organize a month’s training for taxi men on “knowing the town” which will begin on August 22, 2015. “At the end of the training, the participants will undergo a test to be able to obtain ‘la capacite’,” the delegate said.

Taxi men in Bamenda have however, rejected every plan of the delegate, insisting that they won’t be party to the new phenomenon. The Journal, on July 17 and 18, talked to a cross section of taxi drivers in Bamenda. Some of them said they were aware that ‘la capacite’ exists in other towns like Yaounde, Douala and Bafoussam. “These are big towns and cities,” the drivers said.

“Bamenda is a small town and as taxi drivers in Bamenda, we know the town. We do not need anyone to give us any knowledge about Bamenda town that we know so well,” the taxi drivers said.

About the cost of acquiring the certificate, drivers who talked to Cameroon Journal mentioned FCFA 60.000, while others mentioned FCFA 40.000. “The Bamenda man does not even pay the official taxi fare of FCFA 250 per stop. Where do the transport officials think we are to get that kind of money from to acquire the capacite?” the drivers questioned.

Meanwhile, the Transport delegate, when contacted, noted that unlike in other towns and cities, like Douala and Yaounde, where taxi drivers pay more for the capacite, Bamenda taxi drivers are required to pay only FCFA 30.000.

Doumana said taxi drivers should not complain about the size of the town because the Ministry of Transport has authorized them to ply the roads to other neighbouring localities like Mbengwi, Bali, Bambili, and Bafut. “This concession of the Ministry, permitting taxi drivers to cover neighbouring towns, makes the taxi drivers’ perimeter of work larger, and therefore gives enough reason for them to acquire the capacite,” the delegate observed.

Despite the delegate’s efforts at convincing taxi drivers in Bamenda to embrace the new tax, the drivers have continued to submit an emphatic “NO”. No driver who spoke to the Journal had a contrary position.

The drivers have promised a show down with transport officials, stating that it will be “over our dead bodies” to welcome the new idea. They have even promised to mobilize and carry out a “sit down strike” in the days ahead, to make their position known.