By Amindeh Blaise Atabong and Zohra Bensemra
DOUALA, Cameroon (Reuters) – Zakiyaou Mohamed woke up from another night of fitful sleep atop his motorcycle in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital, and stretched his limbs under the canopy of a gas station that protected him from the rain.
The 33-year-old man from northern Cameroon, who spends nights at the station because he can’t afford a room, is one of thousands of motorcycle taxi drivers, or “benskin,” in the port city who eke out a living with fares that start at 100 CFA francs, or about 18 cents.
The term benskin has two meanings: it refers to how drivers bend their bodies to get on and ride their bikes, and how they bend and weave through Douala’s formidable traffic jams.
Although they are sometimes demonized by government officials who blame them for petty crime and disorder, Benskin drivers say their situation encapsulates a larger, more structural problem: a lack of opportunity under President Paul Biya, who has ruled the Central African nation for more than four decades.
Biya, 92, is seeking an eighth term in a vote held on Sunday. The results have not yet been announced.
“I am doing motorcycling because I have no other option. I have nothing else to do apart from this because there is no work,” Mohamed told Reuters as he prepared for a long day transporting clients through potholed and muddy streets.
“Everyone is tired. We want change, but people are afraid to speak.”
BIYA PROMISES TO FIX THE ‘SCOurge’ OF UNEMPLOYMENT
Cameroon’s official unemployment rate is 3.5%, although the figure for young people is much higher. The International Organization for Migration states that unemployment among Cameroonians between 15 and 35 years old is 39.3%.
With the motto “Greatness and Hope,” Biya has insisted that help is on the way.
During his only campaign rally on October 7 in Maroua, capital of the northern region where Mohamed is from, Biya acknowledged widespread frustration over the “scourge” of youth unemployment and pledged to address it if he was granted another term.
“I will not rest until significant progress has been made,” he said.
These promises ring hollow to Acceline Ngouana, a Benskin driver who said she wants Biya removed.
“I hope for change and I will vote for change,” he said, without specifying which rival he would support.
Ngouana, 36, once worked as a nurse in the central town of Monatele, but gave up the job and her meager monthly salary of 10,000 CFA francs (about $18).
The single mother of three earns more these days transporting passengers across Douala and operating a small mechanical workshop.
He dreams of modernizing the garage, a hole in the wall filled with hubcaps and oil containers, but for now he lacks the means to do so.
“I work every day,” he said with a wry smile.
“There is no rest in hell.”
PARENTS FEAR FOR THE FUTURE OF THE CHILDREN
A fellow Benskin driver, Carine Alphonsine Kegne, 39, also described life in Cameroon as hellish, as her life was marked by hardships since her teenage years.
She dropped out of high school after her mother’s death to care for her siblings, which distracted her from her own dreams of becoming a professional soccer referee.
Although he eventually managed to referee some local matches and has the medals and trophies to prove it, he had no way of turning this passion into a sustainable career.
One day, a friend lent her his motorcycle to take her home and someone mistook her for a Benskin driver and asked her for a ride. He hesitated but accepted, and when he received the ticket he realized that he had found a new way to survive.
Now in her late thirties and a single mother of two, she rides her bicycle daily to make a living and wonders how her children will support themselves if conditions don’t improve.
“I just want to save enough to leave Cameroon and start again.”
Noubissi Mathurin Albert, for his part, is determined to stay in Cameroon, but finds it difficult to imagine how his conditions and those of his fellow Benskin drivers will soon improve.
This 30-year-old man once dreamed of being an engineer, but had to abandon his studies due to lack of funds and now fears meeting former classmates who managed to graduate and find work.
Albert voted for an opposition candidate in the 2018 election and was “very disappointed” when Biya was declared the winner.
Accusations of voter intimidation, violence and ballot stuffing cast doubt on the credibility of the result, but the government dismissed them and Biya remained in power.
This year, Albert had no intention of voting at all.
“I lost faith in the electoral process and the government,” he said.
(Reporting by Amindeh Blaise Atabong and Zohra Bensemra Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet, Alexandra Hudson)