Fake driving licences to disappear
Measures are under-way in the country to check the illegal acquisition of driving licences.
If all reforms that are being undertaken in Cameroon by the government were effectively and efficiently implemented, the problem of fraudulent acquisition of driving licences could soon be history. “We are no longer going to have fake driving licences in Cameroon in a year’s time,” said Moussa Aoudou Dotel, Director of Land Transport in the Ministry of Transport.
Meeting in his conference hall last July 22 to inform the ten regional delegates of transport of the new reform on acquiring driving licences in Cameroon, the Minister of State, Minister of Transport, Bello Bouba Maigari, and his close aides have taken up the challenge to ensure that driving schools in the country no longer serve as accomplices in the issuance of driving licences to undeserving persons. The new change, to take effect next month, specifies that all candidates in the ten regions of the country will henceforth, write a compulsory test, organised and supervised by the Ministry of Transport in collaboration with its regional delegations.
“The first control measure the Ministry of Transport has taken is that the regional delegations in collaboration with the various driving schools will come up with a list of candidates eligible for the examination. The list will be forwarded to the Minister of State, Minister of Transport who will scrutinize, verify and validate it,” Moussa Aoudou Dotel explained. He emphasised that after legalizing the list, the Ministry will send supervisors to the various examination centres for the exercise. “Only the Minister of State, Minister of Transport will sign the list of successful candidates,” he hinted.
The reform falls within the framework of government’s initiative to reduce the rate of road accidents that have transformed many highways into death squads. The causes of such behaviour by drivers have generally been attributed to the inability of many of them to understand road signs, probably because they did not go through the right training and or simply because they tend to ignore the lessons learnt in school. The reform is also meant to complement the regular road safety campaigns initiated by the Ministry each year.
Sources in the Ministry of Transport hinted that plans are already in place for tracking down any defaulters when the reform goes operational. Any accomplices in the Ministry, the sources warned, shall be promptly and severely sanctioned. On the other hand, driving schools that indulge in forgery will have their authorisations seized immediately, while motorists who are caught in possession of fake licences will have them withdrawn immediately, the Director of Land Transport, warned.
Cameroon Tribune
Another sing song? But kudos they are even thinking about ways of correcting this decadence. Unfortunate because they had known of the existence of this problem for all these years and yet paid a deaf ear to it.
I am waiting for when they will also finally resurrect measures to curb the illegal exploitation of drivers by the security forces; a practice that is so glaringly clear to all like the brightness of a full moon!
i wonder if reducing the number of accidents with the roads we have is realy thinkable?not to say all this are songs .its not the first and well not be last .
They once again get it wrong!
The only way to eliminate fake in cameroon is to make any process easier and not more complicated.
Why do they think all their collaborators who basically are on a type of salary call allowance are going to do just what they say?
What need to be done is to publish a national manuel of driving instructions, make it available either at no cost or downloadable online, make the test taking process electronic, with test centers in an open and secured area where nothing is hidden from public eyes. Make the driving school be an independent third party not always needed for those who can take the test without their help. Set up 2 to 3 days of the week where practice test can be taken. And finally make the license available immediately after the test is passed. This is the reform to eliminate fake.
Dear Amando, your suggestions are very interesting and correct, but I think that some of the propositions you make can not work in a Cameroonian context.
Take for example: making the test taking process electronic.
I do not think a majority of those wishing to take driving as a professional will have the required level of computer. Sending an e-mail is one thing, and taking and online exam is another. This will mean prospective drivers should have to attend computer classes before going to the driving school. That will make matters even more complicated for them, and they will begin looking for shortcuts, and again we shall be at the stating point: “FAKE, FRAUD, and BRIBE” you name the rest
Another interesting you made is to publish a national manual of driving instructions, make it available either at no cost or downloadable online.
Doing this will be actually asking the driving school owners and instructors to start looking for new jobs, and the land lords of the houses where the schools are organized to star looking for new tenants. This will be counter productive for the government in that it will have to lose revenue from these sources, while footing the bill for a free driver’s license. Such a policy will effectively be saying “free driver’s license for all with online access and capability.”
“The Cameroon driver’s license used to be valued and respected in Europe. Now, it not worth the paper on which it is printer.” Something has to be done about that. Though not the best solution, I think it is a good idea to do something. If one solution does not work, they would have learned from experience. The Europeans once had paper driver’s licenses, now they issue plastic cards because the former was “vulnerable to fraud”.
“”"Make the driving school be an independent third party not always needed for those who can take the test without their help”"
And do they get trained. Any body can write and pass a test online, have the document and remain pratically poor. People only need to do their job properly and keep corruption out so that proper drivers licences are issued to the right persons.
ARE THERE ROAD SIGNS IN CAMEROON
Mr minister,i think you are confused.it’s a shame to see that tackling accident in bad nature of cameroon roads you drive to fake liscence.yeah this is one of the reasons but i will not condole with you with the decision you are making,you are merely building another road for corruption and to frustrate the less priviledge in the name of coputitive examination you are introducing,look at the nature of our roads very narrow,condition of cars,weather condition,the condition of drivers themselves,no trafic light.
I had never heard that you mr minister had ever made inter-provincial toure to sensitice drivers and other roads users to keep better safety in the road.i had never heard from another country that acquisition of driving liscence is being done by competitive examination,i do believe that driving schools still stand at the better place to to that.what you have to do is to creat a better way to see how corruption will be reduce in driving schools,drivers should also be sensitice through their drivers union and the companies the work with,you should also see how roads can be enlargen and more should be tared,trafic light and police should keep on with duties etc.let the delegate of national security should also see into it that his guys should stop harrassing driver on the road.mr minister try to reverse that idea and think well,what you are trying to do is to dictate to road users and to promote corruption in the level of your ministry.thank you
Good question here Belviane. See when I started reading this article, my first question was … how many road signs did I see living in Y’de for few months that I spent there. Now this is Y’de of all, the nation’s capital. Let’s not even get started with the other less developed areas. I think the way to go here will be to start with roads signs and then go from there.
Most driving licences are obtained via telephone. Any accident like the Yde – Dla or Dla – Melong should be banned ( traveling agency) for about 2 years and Licence of the driver withdrawn for even 5years. I think with this, road accidents can be reduced. The question is ” will they not bribe and change their names?” My country people, una try propose ideas for reduce this accidents them.
Speed brakes are the cause of most accidents on the highway. Most of the signals are fallen off and they take most drivers un aware.
Trugs ( Camion ) cause of 80% of accidents. They park on both sides of the road and even at bends with no signals.
Drivers are always in a haste to do many rounds as possible cos of low salaries. Hence they are always drunk or tired.
PRAYERS WE NEED. MAY GOD ALWAYS CONTROL THE STEERINGS OF OUR CARS AND MAY THE SOULS OF THE AFFECTED REST WITH THE LORD.
Excellent comment. Son of the soil. I wish you were the Minister of Transport. So how do i contact u? Change we need.
The question is ” will they not bribe and change their names?”
Sure yes, or simple creat a new transport agency with the same vehicles and drivers
This is just another utopia as many others that have been hailed too soon in the past. So long as our gov’t will continue to be a bulwark for corrupt and irresponsible civil servants, no drastic measures will ever scare a crow…The prob of fake driver’s licence is not that imperative; increase people’s salary and introduce free medical coverage to the needy, who know nothing about a driving schools…Cameroon, a country full of bogus folliticians called ministers…
uuppss-like many, ‘others’ retracted- Crye, just brush over, pidgin go kill ya man…
Zam-Zam …………….. I never knew your original comment was intended for my eyes only! Well, as you point out the setback, maybe you should consider cutting down on the pidgin a bit, even as I trust you’re always capable of figuring out your errors yourself soon after submission. I don’t just set out correcting people … that’s not what I’m here for, especially being on a platform where many participants abhor verity and contemn even modest correction. So …. see me doing that? … I’m just subduing some of these loud-mouthed blokes who should rather be humble and learn like we all need to. I don’t think you fall in this unfortunate category, reason why I’ve never set out to pick errors from your presentations. Maybe I just get “blinded” by my over-confidence in your writing ability and logical artistry … or maybe I just brush off your shortcomings since I mostly get the full picture of what you write.
Cheers!
No qualms Bubble, I’ll give my utmost, it’s just a matter of lack concentration, and typing by counting also…if not, all is as limpid as spring water down here Berlin…ve just been paying attention to how you’re keeping your moulongo pretty busy…keep it warm man…some lower animals on this forum need to be forced to their roosting niche…
Zam-Zam, ar di salute!
Hey Massa Wu from Chinco! Xie-xie ni? ah catcham oh and kuku throweh yam back too oh…méi wèntì bros…
ELECTIONS ARE AROUND THE CONER…BIG TALK. NONSENCE
Ah but this is of old now.Even the guys driving in the National Assembly and the Presidency theirs is fake.
massa how you fit say presidencial driver get fake licence?we all know most thins back home are fake,but not up to this extend,maybe as one rightly said,na election di come,so people di campain
Sounds very good on paper but i just wonder how it’s implementation can be achieved considering this minister is tying to tell us he is going to take full and personal control over this.
Ten regions with total population of about 19 million to have driving test list personally sign off by the minister in Y’de. I just wonder how long it’s now going to take poor Cameroonians to get a driving licences.
Something needed to done though and if the gov’t can also be realistic about the road conditions in the Country as being a major contributing factor in all the deadly car accidents, it will be great.
Time will tell if this is just another big mouth talk from these CPDM idiots.
Never Ni ni, We listen to them preach about discerntralisation since since 1996. Surely this is it being practice by centralizing signatories.
All of you in this forum really pis me off. I wonder what you are all thinking. It is clear from this that it will take months to get a driver’s licence. Clearly, there is a lot of bureaucracy in this matter. Where is the Decentralization they have been talking about.? Why should the minister have to go through the list of those applying for licenses. There is more to do in that ministry besides driver’s licence.
Why not give the powers to the divisional delegates, then set aside an oversight mechanism to fight fraud. The minister is not a mister do everything.
Please Bello Bouba it is time you guys go. I start hearing about you from from … I don’t know which year again. Please leave us with your outdated neocolonial ideas
You are right about the possibility of bureacracy stifling the whole process. I would rather it takes months than reckless drivers killing people on the road.
Because of the corrupt nature in Cameroon, not everything can be decentralised promptly. The fact that the one applying for a driving wont have to meet the minister himself reduces bribery.
But again, corruption will likely spring in at the level of shortlisting. Knowing Cameroonians, they will find ways to go around this. Until now, driving certificates were issued at the level of the delegation. I remember someone I know getting one in the space of a day even though he had been behind the steering wheel of a car only a few times and had never seen the four walls of a driving school and not a clue what the red man on the traffic light meant.
At least this is the beginning of a process that was never in place b4 and recognising that there is a problem. Once they start applying the procedure should they then encounter difficulties they should be able to streamline the whole process accordingly.
How many of you in the diaspora posses fake driver licenses from Cameroon but then still succeed to ddrive without killing yourselfs and others on mechanised highways? Almost all! This is to say driving skill is not the only component of a safe road. The legislation as a whole needs to be worthy enough. What about the state of vehicles cruising our roads. Do we even have roads in Cameroon or footpaths. Cameroon is run by educated buffons who have know practical know how of developing logical solutions to problems. What ever means the used to process licenses is definitely not a problem but the chcking mechanism for its reliabilty, convinience. nonbureacratic stiffing. We know of countries with that succeed with centralised roles as well as those with discentralised role. Government should resort to reinforcement of implimentation rather than waste tax payers money in the creation of decrees and structures and will never stand or give them more oppotunities to swindle funds.
Da Scava: I strongly accept all your points but for one. It is wrong to claim all Cameroonians abroad are running around with fake driver’s licenses. That is a licentious statement. I for one have never possessed a Cameroonian driver’s permit for that matter!
What a terrible idea to have the names of prospective candidates sent to the Ministry in yaounde for verification. Do these guys have competent public policy advisers? I wonder!!!! Instead of the minister to standardized the license process, computerized the licenses, he has come up with a fake idea and program mainly to concentrate the collection of bribes in yaounde. SHAME ON YOU MR MINISTER. You need to get competent people to advise and provide good public policy recommendations than what you are about to implement.
THINK ABOUT DIS-CENTRALIZATION OF THE PROCESS.
all we don run cam hide for bush say na who them go advice them nor…
Forget about bush fallers, most of them are running from responsibilities. Cant buy flight tickects. Kaka carriers. see how they suffer overther ( modern slavery) and put on old dresses. Why is it that when they are comming home, all their dresses are new? hahah. U people should save your money to transport your corpse cos i see many of you not comming till death. Our girls are now wise of your fake promises. We will reserve prostitutes for you. Hiding abroad and want people to fight for you. Idiots. If you are capable, come lets fight together.
Cameroonian …. Hahahahahahahhhahahh …. You’re a brave guy. Well, at least you’ve got a mouth that can open and close!
Oyé massa Cameroon dong comot yi lasi bellé for upside…you get somehow raison man, some of we di really hear bad for this burygrong seh Bush, but we no di ever get the courage for makam known…the only problem be seh, when ah be first turn back for Pays after abt 3yrs for Bush, ah be reach witi less than 300,000cfa for ma kwa…you be need for see how ma own pipo dem be di yab and hip me mortor side by side how ah deh ngemé pass church arata…the thing be bad soteh, when ma mobile be di ring ah be di even shame for pickam cos chaumeurcam pipo dem weh ah be di spend sleepless nights for boulot for send dem yari, dem be get better portables than me, lucky seh me ah be na sans l’heure, ah be just quickly laugh over the matter…if all man turn back, space no go deh ma man…witi mordern techonology, man no musto be sur place for fight the fight, sep for upside man fit contribute in one way or the other…so takam easy boyz, all man for Bush no deh the same likewise all man for Payee…
I thing the minister is trying to do the impossible here. One person alone can not oversee a list for all the ten regions. This would be like centrallizing giving out of driving licences to the central province. how can we be talking of decentrallizing the administrative process and still think of such a thing?
The fake licence are more or less the lesser evil in all this accidents. If the govenment wants to do something about the accidents, the should start be building new and repairing the old roads in Cameroon. Then they should put up traffic signs on this roads, before trying to implimenting the highway code or trying to control the driving licences.
I see what the minister is trying to do as a nice idea at the wrong time. So to say a misplaced pririoty-
Problem no. 1, there are no road signs in Cameroon Mr. Minister.
Problem no. 2, there are no roads even.
Problem no.3, Your cohorts will be the first to ask for “choko” after you sign the list of eligible candidates or else they fail.
If you want us to even think you are serious, start by constructing modern roads throughout the country not the ones that i saw in Yaounde. Roads that pass right on people’s verandas’. Construct roads with two or three lanes, traffic lights and all traffic signs. Then we can believe you are serious about taking fake driver’s licenses off the hands of drunk, crazy and illiterate drivers.
To my mind, and I may be wrong, a document is fake when it is not issued by the person duly habilitated by law to do so, i.e. the appropriate issuing authority. Hence, calling these licences “fake”, as the official does, is slightly misleading in the sense that most of them are in fact issued by the appropriate issuing authority. The question that arises then is whether the relevant conditions regulating their issuance were met. This – and which brings me to my next point – is a question of procedure and control, and, principally, the responsibility of MinTP.
That the minister – instead of his subordinates as formerly was – intends to get personally involved at some point in the process by approving the deserving examinees(which btw is uunecessary centralisation), leaves me in wonderment as to what the “reform” really is and how it revolutionises the current procedure. Compulsory theoretical and practical tests have always been part of the DL obtainment procedure. The said tests have always been organised and administered by MinTP with its provincial, divisional or district representatives always present at the test centres and the final certification of the driving competence of learners, who then become eligible for the issuance of DLs have always been done by the MinTP or its duly designated representatives. Instead of presenting the case here as if MinTP has been out of the process and hence not part of the problem, the Ministry should recognise that it has all along been part of the fraud in league with the driving schools, who in turn act in complicity with rich incompetent candidates who use their resources to fast track their way through the process. An appropriate place to start any such reforms would be to review, raise and tighten the threshold for granting licences for establish driving schools. This is an industry sector that needs more stricter regulation than currently seems to be the case, as those owning and running them are more interested in the revenue generated from impatient candidates who will pay anything to get bumped up on the list for test takers(this being solely the decision of the instructor), even before they are ready. The second problem lies at the level of the testing, in particular the practical, which is the last stage for getting approved to obtain the DL. Considering the murderers plying our roads in the name of certified drivers, two concerns are at issue here: One is that the examiners and supervisors from MinTP who certify them may themselves be completely incompetent in their jobs. The second concern is that they may not be incompetent but yet too corrupt, hence implicating the entire transport ministry as part of the cycle of fraud that results in the issuance of DLs to undeserving students. Otherwise, how do we explain the validation of undeserving examinees in the first place? To be brief, the problem lies far beyond just the driving schools and examination structure.
I second this. A vivid dissection of the plague of fake licensing. Big up T Boy.
Thumbs up T Boy.
The TP minister seems to believe more centralized bureaucratie could be a solution whereas it obviously belongs to our problems. Good roads, road signs could be a fine start. However education might be needed and this can be only be done on the long run.
Praiseworthy score overall. The sanctions for shady Ministry of Transport and driving school officials seems cool, BUT ….. “motorists who are caught in possession of fake licences will have them withdrawn immediately”????….. And that’s all?? … These crooks know for sure where they go get these fakes to go jeopardise lives on the highway. More than mere “withdrawing” should be promised defaulters.
Hi guys I am an eye witness of a corruption deal that took place in the ministry of transport in Yaounde.A friend of mine needed information on how he can acquire a driving licence fr his cousin in Yaounde.So we decided to go to the ministry of transport .While there one Francophone guy of Beti extraction cornered us to his office and told us that instead of wasting precious time to get a real driving licence we should just pay 50 000 frs and in a matter of minutes we will be in possession of a driving Licence.He stressed that its thesame with the original .My friend was not moved by this open display of fraudery instead we rushed out of his office promising to come back the next day.my friend advised me that we should go to the police.So we went to table a complaint in 8eme arondisssement i.e the 8th police district.Much to our surprise the commissioner himself told us that we should fuel the police car and pay a sum of 50 000frs to enable them get the to the ministry of transport .We promised to go get the money at home and never came back.Those who are issuing these fake licences are officials of the ministry of transport themselves who know the implication.Its a rotten system.
Little Dragon (Bruce) Lee …. have you just visited this planet? What’s more special about your story than checkpoint police officers; instead of doing their clearance duty, openly demanding money from drivers and declining viewing their vehicle particulars and driver’s licences? The commissioner even had time to answer you that way …. others would have asked you if you didn’t find police officers outside the ministry building. It’s grace that these inconsistencies are being addressed and rooted out, thanks to the new face of the regime!
How is “that” Hunan, by the way? Hope you have not changed name up in here!
Lee Xiao Long you are a good man Thx for your story; all of us here can testify at least five stories similar to yours. there is nothing we can hide again. everywhere fake fake FAKE FAKE fake fake.
we are where our friend named: corruption , put us. asking money in gvnmt public services it a song.
with this gvnmt, everything everywhere on every structure just FAKE FAKE fake fake FAKE fake and fake! what does that mean? oh God!
who brought fake corruption in this sad gvnmt.
We should stop pointing fingers to the government because we are also corrupt like them. We have accepted corruption as part of us and by so doing we encourage the gov’t to continue with their corrupt ways. If a policeman stands on the check point to collect money and nobody gives him, he will not do that again. I will tell you all what I experienced, back in 2003 I was in Cameroon and on arriving my ID card was no where to be found. Knowing so well that the police in Cameroon does not accept passport as identification, I went to the police office and complained about my missing identification. They issued a certificate of loss documents and I boarded Guarantee express with a Dutch friend to Yaounde. On arriving Bankomo, the Gendarmes came into the bus and started asking for identification papers, I showed my passport and as usuall they requested for ID which I then brandished the “certificat de perd” I was told to step down and after was asked to give 500 FCFA as bribe. I categorically refused and everyone was annoyed and I said they can do what they want but I will not bribe anybody. After agueing with them and the bus driver for over 20 mins the Dutch friend of mine was confused and started to ask questions and they became ashamed and handed my documents to go away with my bad luck. On entering the bus, everyone was booing at me, saying I am stingy and should have just given them the money and let’s go. Only one person was hailing me saying that was the right thing to do and you know what, he was a person from Asia. That is when I said the problem of corruption in Cameroon is really complicated, we have accepted it as a way of life. If we start by denouncing it and not giving bribe to those who are asking then you will see that corruption will drastically reduce.
Mr Joop you are corrupt like them not me.
your story just belong to many others; i replied to Lee Xiao Long just above. let me tell you that i face this problem all the time I am in my fatherland. Some examples:
In police station( I was to sign a document and they ask me 3000cfa but all together with stamp cost normally 500cfa, I then ask how come, the officer told me “ hm hm it is like that, is it your first time to sign a doc?”
In sous/ prefecture( it was about to sign a document the officer ask me 75000cfa instead of 25000 by the time I didn’t see the boss, and you will not even see him, and you will never know about the extra)
In school to secure a place in Lycee for my niece, I have been ask to give 50000cfa
In the hospital (” if you need a quick treatment for your grand ma it’s possible to have all the results of her exams in few times, if not you will wait for long)
At the airport (my case, with my own closes) but they ask me money..
Brother Joop, please is it not Gvnmt public services? Do you think usually I am not angry? Can I encourage this ? Unfortunately you don’t know me. Ask yourself why Cameroon is the first country corrupt in the World? The answer will be check its gvnmt,
Solutions:
-Marches organised by gvnmt against corruption ( individually ,Joop you can’t stop it, as it is now on higher level)
-Sack corrupt officers/ workers from their jobs
Is it difficult for gvnmt to take these type of solutions? If it’s not involve. who is saying now “Fake driving licences to disappear”? i think Gov ; that means the gvnmt knows very well and has also solutions. individually you can’t and it doesn’t mean you encourage corruption.
Atleast i see this effort being put up as a good attempt to curb the the huge amounts of fraudulent licences that are in circulation….
Atleast i see this effort being put up as a good attempt to curb the the huge amounts of fraudulent licences that are in circulation…. Good Job…..
The problem is not only the fake licences.the problem is who is going to check them if it is fake?cus at the motor park while they are loading the cargo, the driver is taking 33 export, to see the road clearly as they always say, and the police and Gendammes called routier are just they stopping the car, while the motorboy runs with the daily contribution 500frs cfa or 1000frs, so who is to check this ? Mr minister? or the forces of law and order?