By Amindeh Blaise Atabong and Zohra Bensemra
DOUALA, Cameroon (Reuters) -Zakiyaou Mohamed awoke from one more evening of fitful sleep atop his motorbike in Cameroon’s financial capital Douala and stretched his limbs beneath a petroleum station cover that offered shelter from the rain.
The 33-year-old native of northern Cameroon, who spends his nights on the station as a result of he cannot afford a room, is certainly one of hundreds of motorbike taxi, or “benskin”, drivers within the port metropolis who eke out a dwelling on fares that begin at 100 CFA francs, or about 18 U.S. cents.
The time period benskin has two meanings: it refers to how the drivers bend their our bodies to get on and drive their bikes, and to how they bend and wind their means via Douala’s formidable visitors jams.
Although generally demonized by authorities officers who blame them for petty crime and dysfunction, benskin drivers say their plight encapsulates a much bigger, extra structural downside: lack of alternative beneath President Paul Biya, who has dominated the Central African nation for greater than 4 many years.
Biya, 92, is looking for an eighth time period in a vote that was held on Sunday. Outcomes have but to be introduced.
“I’m doing motorcycling as a result of I haven’t got a selection. I’ve nothing else to do apart from this as a result of there aren’t any jobs,” Mohamed instructed Reuters as he ready for an extended day of ferrying clients via potholed and muddy streets.
“Everyone seems to be drained. We would like change however persons are afraid to talk out.”
BIYA VOWS TO FIX UNEMPLOYMENT ‘SCOURGE’
Cameroon’s official unemployment price stands at 3.5%, although the determine for younger individuals is far greater. The Worldwide Group for Migration says unemployment for Cameroonians between 15 and 35 years outdated is 39.3%.
Operating on the slogan “Greatness and Hope,” Biya has insisted assistance is on the way in which.
Throughout his sole marketing campaign rally on October 7 in Maroua, capital of the northern area the place Mohamed is from, Biya acknowledged widespread frustration with the “scourge” of youth unemployment and pledged to deal with it if granted one other time period.
“I can’t relaxation till vital progress has been achieved,” he mentioned.
These guarantees ring hole for Acceline Ngouana, a benskin driver who mentioned she desires Biya voted out.
“I hope for change, and I’ll vote for change,” she mentioned, with out specifying which challenger she would again.
Ngouana, 36, as soon as labored as a nurse within the central city of Monatele, however she gave up on the job and its meager month-to-month wage of 10,000 CFA francs (roughly $18).
The only mom of three makes extra today shuttling passengers via Douala and working a small mechanic workshop.
She goals of constructing the storage – a gap within the wall full of hubcaps and containers of oil – extra fashionable, however for now she lacks the means to take action.
“I work daily,” she mentioned with a wry smile.
“In hell, there is no such thing as a relaxation.”
PARENTS FEAR FOR CHILDREN’S FUTURE
A fellow feminine benskin driver, Carine Alphonsine Kegne, 39, additionally described life in Cameroon as hellish, her life having been marked by hardship since her mid-teens.
She dropped out of secondary college after her mom’s dying to take care of her siblings, which distracted from her personal goals of turning into knowledgeable soccer referee.
Although she finally managed to officiate some native matches, and has the medals and trophies to show it, she had no means of turning this ardour right into a sustainable profession.
Sooner or later, a buddy lent her his motorbike to take house, and somebody mistook her for a benskin driver and requested for a experience. She hesitated however accepted, and when she acquired the fare she realized she had discovered a brand new technique to survive.
Now in her late thirties and a single mom of two, she rides every day to earn a dwelling, and wonders how her youngsters will assist themselves if circumstances do not enhance.
“I simply need to save sufficient to go away Cameroon and discover a contemporary begin.”
Noubissi Mathurin Albert, for his half, is dedicated to staying in Cameroon, however he struggles to think about how circumstances for him and his fellow benskin drivers will enhance quickly.
The 30-year-old as soon as dreamed of turning into an engineer, however he needed to abandon his research for lack of funds and now dreads working into former classmates who managed to graduate and discover jobs.
Albert voted for an opposition candidate within the 2018 election and was “very upset” when Biya was declared the winner.
Allegations of voter intimidation, violence and ballot-stuffing solid doubt over the credibility of the consequence, however the authorities dismissed them and Biya stayed in energy.
This 12 months, Albert didn’t intend to vote in any respect.
“I misplaced religion within the electoral course of and within the authorities,” he mentioned.
(Reporting by Amindeh Blaise Atabong and Zohra BensemraEditing by Robbie Corey-Boulet, Alexandra Hudson)
