SW governor puts truck driver behind bars

Dieudonne Meh, a truck driver in Buea, Southwest Region, and his aide are presently languishing in police custody in Tiko, for allegedly pouring some of the sand heaped in their truck on windshield of Southwest Governor Okalia Bilai’s car.

The duo has also been accused of blocking the Governor’s car along the Tiko-Douala highway and preventing him from overtaking their truck, despite persistent efforts made by the administrator’s driver.

According to Dennis Mbah Acha, another Buea based truck driver, “Meh left Buea on Saturday, October 4, 2014, to buy sand along the Tiko-Douala highway. After loading the sand into his truck, he decided to seal the back of the truck with a tarpaulin.

“When Meh arrived at Likomba in Tiko, he decided to stop and buy a recharge card for his phone.Suddenly, a ‘PRADO’ car stopped in front of his truck and the owner asked for the person who parked the truck.

Meh came and discovered that the owner of the ‘PRADO’ was the Governor. In the course of their exchanges, the Governor asked for the car documents which Meh handed over to him. Unfortunately, the Governor got infuriated and called in the Divisional Officer for Tiko, Patrick Che Ngwashi and police. He ordered that Meh and his aide be remanded in custody and the truck impounded for pouring sand on his windscreen and preventing him from overtaking their truck,” Acha recounted.

Acha said despite pleas from Meh that he was not aware that the ‘PRADO’ behind him was that of the Governor, given that preferential treatment accorded to administrators and other State personalities on the highway are only done if such persons are in a convoy.

“But the Governor still gave a deaf ear to the pleas,” Acha said, adding that, since October 4, drivers have made countless and fruitfulness trips to the Governor’s Office to plead with him to release their colleague to no avail.

“When we went to his office on Monday, October 6, we were informed that the Governor was not available. We went the next day, and he asked us to go and see the DO of Tiko. When we got to Tiko, the DO said he was waiting for instructions from the Governor.

“When we came back to the Governor’s Office, we were told that the Governor had travelled. We don’t know the kind of game the Governor and the DO are playing, but we are giving the Governor until the end of this week to release our colleague or he will tell us, the drivers, if we have to drive into the bush because somebody with a ‘PRADO’ is behind us.

This is how these administrators cause accidents on the highways and they push the blame to drivers. They are always in haste,” Acha stated.

However, all efforts to get the Governor to comment on the matter were futile. Reporter called his phone repeatedly, but the Governor would not take his calls.