A quick trip to Bamenda (pt. 2)
Our meal at Handicraft was good, and the daytime scenery from the balcony was nice (though the sky was a little hazy). It took two months for Akilah to get me to see this scene during the day, and it was worth it. Afterwards, we walked through the co-operative, and purchased a few items. Especially since I’d not gotten much on my souvenir list. It was also good to walk through and see prices on some of the items, so I would know how to begin my negotiations when I go back to the Artisinant in Foumban.
By the time we reached Savannah it was almost five in the evening, and it was at least another forty minutes or so before we left. That’s not good considering we still needed to go back to the Bafferie and pick up our bags, so we could head to Foumban. We made it back to Bafoussam in about an hour and jumped out on the side of the road to walk up to the Bafferie.
After packing everything and locking up the house, we caught a taxi to Moungo Voyages. We actually ended up getting out a little before, because we saw one of their vehicles picking up passengers at a gas station. We were right on time, because it only took another ten minutes for the taxi to fill up and we were off to the gas station, then to Foumban.
This trip was indicative of what’s wrong in this country. The ride should’ve taken us not more than an hour, however, because of being stopped four times by gendarme, and the driver picking up additional passengers as he let other’s off, it took over two hours!
The first gendarme stop was the most ridiculous. It’s bad enough they stop you as if there’s someone on the vehicle that shouldn’t be there, but then to look through the “trunk” area as if there’s someone hiding back there, is ridiculous. The officer who stopped us must’ve had a complex, because if you could’ve seen the way he was holding his automatic rifle. I don’t know if those magazines are filled with ammunition, and I really don’t want to find out. I guess he held it that way because he thought someone would try to rush out of the taxi and run for it. Yeah right!
Not satisfied with looking at the driver’s papers, the officer decides to make everyone show their identity cards. Really, I think he just wanted to see Akilah’s, and mine because when he was standing back in his authoritative manner with his weapon cocked, he looked at us several times. We were in the back of the van so I don’t know what he thought he was doing.
Everyone had their cards, and presented them to him. However, he didn’t do like other officers and physically hold each card to look at them, he just did a ceremonial glance through the glass. Now what was he seeing in the limited light being given off by the vans dome? Couldn’t have been much, so what was this stop accomplishing.
To even flaunt his authority more, when the driver asked if we could go since everyone had his or her cards, he said no. Considering the fact that he had the driver’s documents, we were stuck. The entire stop took at least twenty minutes, during which time there were at least fifteen other vehicles parked along the roadside at any given time. I believe two people even ran from one car, though I’m not sure why; only know that since the same officer ran to tell his colleague that someone was running away.
Considering the uselessness of this stop, you can’t begin to imagine the fury I was feeling the three other times we were stopped. The second two were all within ten minutes of the first. What were they going to find that the first one didn’t? Is there that much of a need for extra money that officers set up so many unnecessary and, obviously, uncoordinated roadblocks?
The gendarme stops made it bad, but what made it worst was the fact that once we reached Foumbot and passengers started getting out, the driver would just fill their seats with someone from along the roadside. At one stop, when the van was half empty, he picked up nine young boys; he now holds the record for the most people in a bush taxi. There were twenty-two adults and young people, and one child. “Who’da thunk?”
All of those new passengers, and even us for that matter, weren’t paying the agency, the money was going directly into his pockets. That means he just made a hefty bit of pocket money for making this trip home. How will Cameroon every progress if everyone is pilfering from whatever financial resources there are?
I know the states aren’t perfect, but at least it’s not acceptable to take bribes or money that should be going to the company you work for. There are systems in place to correct such problems. Will there ever be any such situations here? What will happen when folks finally get enough and begin striking back? Or is that the dream of an idealistic westerner?