They are feet-dragging to execute the Transport Minister's call for compliance to standards.

Twelve days after the Transport Minister's August 2nd decision warning 75 bus companies in the Centre Region to comply to standards within two months or face sanctions, several companies are still recalcitrant. According to Jean Jacques Mvogo Akoa of the Communication Service in the ministry, Minister Robert Nkili's decision followed a tour of bus stations to ensure their compliance with location and facility requirements.

Among problems needing attention, Mvogo mentioned the lack of authorisation by some transporters, the lack of social insurance cover for bus company workers as well as the dirty nature of the various bus stations. "Travellers are required to pay FCFA 100 for using the toilets in some bus stations," he explained.

The official listed other problems observed by the Minister as including transporters who do want their vehicles to be checked, poor state of buses, lack of waiting and sleeping facilities for normal and stranded passengers as well as poorly-paid but overworked drivers.

At the Mvan motor park yesterday, Monday August 13th, a majority of bus companies still exhibited the same ills for which the ministry issued the warning. At the Musango Bus Station, for example, officials said staff from the ministry came and checked their toilets, the passengers' waiting room and the state of their buses without saying anything. Consequently, they were surprised to hear of impending sanctions.

However, Jean Faustin Evehe of 'La Kribienne' Bus Company was aware of the sanctions that await them. So in that light, his company has undertaken the construction and renovation of the station to meet the deadline given by the Ministry of Transport.

It should be noted that the Minister's threat does not only concern transporters in the Centre Region but the whole country, for other lists of bus companies in the North and West Regions have been published. Failure to comply by transporters could lead to the sealing of their stations.