"Without prejudice to administrative sanctions, the following staff in service at the Mekong toll booth are dismissed for serious breaches of ethics: Lingock Lingock Mathieu Christophe (station manager); Awenti Armstrong Awenti (team leader No. 1); Byang Pambe Paning (team leader No. 3)," says the ministerial decision. A source revealed the toll collectors got fired because they were ripping off transporters. "They used faulty instruments that inflated the actual weight of the vehicles," the source said, explaining that “the station was temporarily closed for technical reasons, and its equipment is still on maintenance. But the agents opened it to charge false fees to the transporters," thus causing more hassle on this corridor, already criticized for its high number of road controls.
According to Cameroon Customs, the Douala-Bangui corridor, which carries about CFA55 billion worth of goods each year, is the main supply route for the Central African Republic capital.
This coming rather too late as it's a common practice in almost all tollgates in Cameroon. On thy 500grs tollgates,Drivers are seen exchanging 500frs for a small bundle of sugar cane or bitter cola. Some drivers give 500frs without collecting the ticket. Some drivers brink back tickets collected same day and hand over to the toll gate workers to resale.
Ask why they do not want to pay or collect the tickets, varied responses are given. " We don't know what the state is doing with the money they collect from us. Look at the state of roads in Cameroon. This was even a program conceived by the Social Democratic Front party SDF. According the program which was meant for earth roads, the state of Cameroon could go into a contract with road construction company to tarr a certain stretch of road and errect a tollgates to recover the cost of construction. When they collect the required amount, the tollgates is suspended.This program was going to enable the government to improve on the state of our roads. Unfortunately,the government highjacked the program and introduced it on all highways, even roads that were already tarred. More so, tollgates were supposed to be limited at Regional boundaries,but that is not the case. Road accidents every day because of the narrowness and bad state of our roads.Tell me,is there any reason for us to pay tollgates? A certain driver name Kemfack in a conversation with querious passengers en route to Yaounde questioned the importance of the tollgates.
Courtesy: Business in Cameroon
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