“Zero tolerance!” “Either your vehicle has a CEMAC number plate and you continue your journey or you don’t have and your car is impounded,” the Director in charge of Road Safety in the Ministry of Transport, Zacharie Ngoumbe told Cameroon Tribune on monday.

The “zero tolerance” slogan will be enforced by a joint team of the police, the gendarmerie and officials of the Ministry of Transport to fish out vehicles that do not conform to CEMAC sub-regional regulations on the sector. A press release to this effect was signed by the Minister of State, Minister of Transport, Bello Bouba Maigari, on April 15 and takes effect today.

The joint team is supported by a special unit in charge of solving, at the shortest possible time, cases of car owners who opt to abide by the rules and regulations of the sub-region to which Cameroon is signatory. The special unit will help acquire CEMAC number plates for those willing within 24. For car owners not willing to conform, sources at the Ministry of Transport vehemently said their vehicles will be sent to the administrative garage where they will have to pay fines to the City Council before their vehicles are released; and this only after complying to the rules and regulations of the Ministry of Transport. Strategies have been put in place and as the Director of Road Safety says, “The control team is permanent and if you plan to drive only at night, you may have some surprises.” The control will also take place in other regions of the country and preparations to that effect have been ongoing since the announcement last April.

Sources said Cameroon is the country with the highest number of irregular CEMAC immatriculation plates in the sub region. This explains why the tripartite decision involving the Delegation for National Security, the Secretariat in Charge of the National Gendarmerie and the Ministry of Transport focused on the need to wage another war against recalcitrant car owners. “It is unfortunate that Cameroon is the last country in the sub-region implementing the law which stipulates that all vehicles must have registration numbers and the CEMAC number plate,” the Director noted. The measures are to ensure that stolen vehicles do not get number plates in other countries and to help fight insecurity in the sub region.