Truck Drivers’ Strike: Need To Avoid Future Occurrences

Mixed feelings quickly cut across the population over the weekend following news of a strike action by truck drivers on the National Road N°1. The drivers, in their protest, blocked circulation for five days and it was only on the night of Saturday breaking Sunday 7 December, 2025 that the situation returned to normal on the Ngaoundere-Meiganga-Garoua-Boulai stretch which is a vital link between the Northern and the Southern parts of the country. Even worse, it serves neighbouring Chad and any such blockage meant much. While some persons wondered if Cameroonians should afford such a strive now, others saw it as a situation that was unavoidable given the numerous complaints that have often cropped up on the Cameroon-Chad corridor.     
As expected, the strike action in the Adamawa Region led to roadblocks, significant traffic disruptions, and a complete standstill in the transportation of goods right down to the port of Douala. Some eyewitnesses say it stemmed from a gendarme allegedly assaulting a truck driver for lack of identification documents. Although a preventive measure by the Governor of the Adamawa Region, Kildadi Taguieke Boukar has brought normalcy, important lessons have to be learnt. That the truck drivers requested the Governor’s presence and he took the message seriously and went down on the field was crucial. Secondly, the decision to suspend the Roblin and Nandeke gendarmerie control posts in the Mbéré Division, which were at the centre of the controversy was equally salutary. The question remains whether the accused gendarme acted appropriately or not? Could the suspension also mean the officers on the highway have been overstepping bounds to inflict pain on some road users? Are there possibilities of the highways being kept totally free of the forces of law and order? What about cases of insecurity that have over the years caused moments of hysteria among the population with instances of kidnappings for ransom, torture, and even killings? The list of interrogations could be continued, but what remains is that the incident that spoiled the weekend for most travellers on the said highway ought to be or could be avoided.     
Coming just a few weeks after a similar halt in transport activities which resulted in disruptions in basic food supply to several parts of the country, those in charge of certain operations need to be more careful. Creating another scene of tension whereby the population had to remain in suspense and uncertainty was totally uncalled for. Economic transactions such as those disrupted by the unruly actions over the weekend are very important to several communities and any one placed in a situation that obstructs such businesses must be insensitive to the challenges that the population is currently facing. Even the drivers who place themselves in the way of the forces of law and order knew that such actions were going to affect their businesses negatively. A palpable likelihood in such a behaviour could have been the release of emotions that the drivers could have accumulated over time. If that were to be the case, defaulters would certainly be expected to pay the price of the civil unrest that the incident created no matter how long it lasted. Sanctions, in any case are supposed to serve as a deterrent and it is only through strong measures that some wayward persons can be face the consequences of getting involved in wrong d...