Severe disciplinary sanctions have been promised to men in uniform who have been exploiting the population especially drivers instead of executing their assigned tasks of maintaining law and order in the North West region. General Nka Valère, commander of the 5th joint military region sounded the warning note, Tuesday June 16 2020 during a special visit to the gendarmerie post in Bali.
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| Truck offloading goods at the Bamenda Main Market |
Addressing the uniform officers, he disclosed to them that Cameroonian and Nigerian businessmen recently visited him to table complaints of their bitter experiences with the uniform officers who harass and financially exploit them at various control posts along the way through exorbitant charges for vehicles transporting goods and passengers.
"I've given special instructions for organised teams to be checking this in civilian attires and those who will be caught (military, gendarme or police) carrying on such activities will be severely punished" he warned. Nka Valère went on to explain that it's such actions that turn the population against the defence and security forces or give room for "Ambas" to blackmail them.
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| General Nka Valère of the 5th Joint Military Region |
Major supplies of goods to all major markets in Bamenda, the entire North West region right to other main cities like Bafoussam, Douala and Yaounde come in through the Bamenda-Mamfe-Ekok-Enugu corridor. This accounts for the multiple checkpoints along the highway said to be very juicy for the men in uniform to make fast cash.
Manley Robbin is a truck driver. Very frustrated he told Mbengwi Online they were already planning to engage in a strike action should the extortion continue without authorities stepping in to put checks and balances. He said "We are facing challenges with very deplorable roads and too much control within the town, even more than the ones we come across along the way. Despite having spent much money to obtain all our vehicle's documents, the military keeps telling us they don't have time to control documents and when we ask why, they say we're in war."
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| Manley Robbin, Truck Driver |
He pleaded for such excesses to really be checked by authorities because it's really weighing on them the drivers as if they caused the war. "It's now big business for them because based on what one carries, they charge us to pay what suits them. For example if you're carrying planks, you have to pay weighing fee to forestry officials which we often do yet at each control, they still collect 20.000 Frs from us. For example, I spend 200.000Frs from here to Limbe just to settle control if I'm carrying planks. As such at the end of the trip, my boss won't even have 50.000Frs and thus can't pay me, meaning I'm just working for nothing" he lamented
The Bamenda-Ekok road that was constructed in 2013 as part of the Trans-African Highway linking ECOWAS and CEMAC countries with the main purpose of alleviating poverty and promoting corporation and integration has rather become a nightmare to passengers and drivers plying it. Life threatening incidences of gun battles between the military and non state armed groups are a frequent occurrence on this National Road No. 8.
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| Recent Road Block |
Last year, decomposing corpses of persons killed during such encounters and bullet shells used to litre the road. Mounting of multiple checkpoints hasn't been a practice limited to the military only. Non state armed groups either mount theirs too from time to time or completely block the road, stranding hundreds of passengers. The latest of such took place last June 7th 2020.
General Nka Valère's visit to Bali came on the heels of a recent military operation launched in Widikum, Batibo and Bali aimed at cleaning these areas from the activities of those they refer to as terrorists. The army has been launching successive operations to neutralise all such persons disturbing public peace in the region. The operations started in Bafut, then Widikum, Batibo, Bali and shall be continuing to areas said to be strongholds of the fighters.
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| Army General & Divisional Officer of Bali inspecting Recovered Items from the Operation |
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