A special team comprising officials of the regional delegation of transport, national security and the governor’s office and led by Monchi Johnson Malafa, Inspector General of the NW Region descended on the Bamenda-Bafoussam highway early Tuesday morning to monitor the respect by road users, of the new guidelines issued by government against the spread of Covid-19.
They controlled the number of passengers per vehicle which is limited to 50 for buses carrying 70 or more persons, four including drivers for five seat vehicles, the wearing of face masks by all passengers and drivers and spacing arrangement in the vehicles.
The vehicles were thoroughly controlled to see if they respected the measures, the sitting arrangement and number of passengers in each bus was checked
Defaulting drivers had their vehicles impounded, while passengers without face mask were warned. 10 inter-urban transport buses and private cars were impounded for contravening the orders. Dozens of passengers had their ID cards retained by the control team for conniving with drivers. Several passengers disembarked from the buses few metres to the control points to walk pass.
Che Ngong Gilbert, regional Delegate of Transport for the Northwest said the vehicles found wanting will be held for 15 days before being release to the owners.
Many passengers who were dropped from the buses to evade the control were later on forced to trek or get other means of transportation to the city centre.
Many complained that they were dropped without any previous notice. Some said they had paid 7000 frs but we’re told to drop from the buses just before the control post.
Cameroon has already registered 848 cases as of yesterday, with 130 recoveries and 14 deaths. Cameroon opted for some measures that included social distancing, compulsory wearing of face masks, not more than 50 people in a single gathering, closure of schools, 14 day quarantine for Cameroonians returning home from abroad, closure of our national borders among others.
The Northwest region has so far not recorded a single case. Screening for signs of the disease has been going on since last month at Matazem-Santa, the main entry point into the region.
By Abongwa Fozo.
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