What should have been a smooth, roughly eight-hour journey turned into a distressing ordeal lasting over 10 hours for passengers of a Moghamo Express bus travelling from Douala to Bamenda on the night of Saturday, June 28. Passengers say the bus broke down at Batie, a hilly town in Cameroon’s West Region, in the early hours of Sunday, June 28, leaving women, children, and other travelers stranded along a poorly lit and dangerous stretch of road for over two hours.
The breakdown is the latest of similar incidents that have plagued Cameroon’s highway transport sector, where poorly maintained buses frequently breakdown on the road, exposing passengers to risks of armed robbery, and delays that disrupt livelihoods.
A visibly frustrated female passenger, in a message sent to MMI, detailed the sequence of events leading to the bus breakdown.
“We left Douala yesterday by night. I personally left the house at 7 p.m., and when I reached the park there was a lot of confusion. They had to carry us again to Ndogpassi where they had to carry some tires before we left for Bamenda,” she said.
But the troubles didn’t end there.
More to Come
“We are stranded now on the road. The vehicle is not moving. The driver said they had to call for a technician. We have been here for more than two hours. We have children with us. This agency has made things really difficult for me. I am very unhappy about it. Because where we are—we are at Batie—to see a vehicle to Bafoussam is very difficult. We have been here for more than two hours. We are supposed to be in Bamenda but we’re stranded on the road with children.”
Beyond the emotional and physical exhaustion, the passengers were without basic amenities.
“We are where we don’t even have water to drink. We don’t even have a place to ease ourselves. Moreoever we have children with us and we have important preoccupations to attend to,” the woman added.
Incidents like this are not new in Cameroon’s interurban transport system.
Bus breakdowns, especially during long-distance night travel, have become a common occurrence.
Many transport agencies operate aging buses with poor mechanical upkeep, leaving travelers vulnerable to both mechanical failures and external threats.
In some past cases, vehicles that break down on highways, especially on roads such as the Douala–Yaoundé have fallen victim to armed robbers, who steal parts from broken cars parked by the roadside.
Despite frequent public complaints, many transport agencies fail to issue public apologies, let alone compensate or support stranded passengers.
The Moghamo Express agency has not made any official statement or apology regarding this weekend’s incident.
Concerned passengers called on the transport agency and to prioritize passenger safety, and regularly maintain their vehicles to prevent such embarrassing breakdowns.
“They need to sit up and augment the condition of their vehicles,” the passenger who spoke to MMI insisted.
Until then, Cameroonians who rely on road transport remain at the mercy of under-maintained buses and the agencies that operate them, with little remorse when things go wrong.
