Insecurity - Transporters' Nonchalant Attitudes Blamed

Attention is not paid to the strict submission of passengers' identity cards and the content of luggage.

Interurban bus transport has also become a trusted means of transportation for ill-intentioned individuals who travel without identification papers and dangerous objects in their luggage. Increasingly, blame is being laid on the laxity that reigns in most travel agencies where the search for profits by proprietors of transport companies and drivers has relegated vigilance to the background. Thus, regrettable attitudes now abound.

John Ngongang, a Yaounde inhabitant, arrived one of the bus transport companies at the Mvan neighbourhood yesterday, May 22, 2014. He had lost his National Identity Card while shopping in the Mokolo Market on Sunday, May 18, 2014.

Not caring to declare the loss and obtain a certificate of loss from the Police, he saw no problem travelling to Edea for an emergency. When he paid for his ticket, he gave his name without submitting his ID card as was required. The company's cashier paid little attention to the omission.

When Ngongang boarded the bus, he informed the driver that he had no identification paper. He gave a FCFA 2000 banknote to the driver to "oil" his way through security checkpoints. He arrived safely in Edea and went around his business.

Like Ngongang, many passengers of doubtful morality and origins travel to and fro major highways in the country unperturbed. In some cases, individuals without identification papers pay off drivers who make them walk across checkpoints and are picked some metres away from the security checkpoints.

Such a behaviour that is so common, has become a cause for worry for authorities as recently, some foreigners without identification documents have been apprehended on several highways across the country with ammunition such as cartridges and grenades found in their luggage.

Authorities blame transport agencies whose porters often load in luggage without verifying the contents. On the way, drivers unlawfully pick up more passengers with even doubtful hand luggage. Thus, travelling is fast becoming a nightmare for many who hold that with recent happenings, one's security is no longer assured in transport buses.