In a bid to maximise profit, people resort to dubious means during business transactions.

A local transport vehicle parked beside a filling station in Bonaberi was grounded for close to two hours last Friday, November 8, 2013. When the 35-seater bus that left Yaounde in the morning reached its Douala agency, the driver needed to add other passengers in order to continue the journey to Kumba in the South West Region.

However, he discovered that fewer people had alighted from the car; compared to the number he was expecting. He then asked all the passengers to present their travellers’ tickets which most of them did, except two boys, seated on the second to the last and last rows. The latter claimed to have lost their tickets along the road.

When the driver asked the two boys to alight, this led to a heated argument between the driver and the other passengers who were testifying that the boys actually came from Yaounde. After arguing to no avail, the two boys pretended as if they wanted to talk with the driver, but after descending from the bus, they vamoosed. It was then that the driver explained to the other passengers that they are usually victims of anarchy from passengers who pay half fare for a full journey.

While this occurs to transporters along the Yaounde-Douala-Buea-Kumba highway, a completely different situation prevails in agencies plying the West Region. Here, the transport fare is solely determined by the transporters, conditioned by passengers’ influx. From Thursdays to Sundays, transport fare virtually doubles, while the usual FCFA 2000-3000 is maintained from Mondays to Wednesdays. Faced with this, passengers are obliged to comply, amidst overloading in the buses.

Other forms of anarchy exist in markets where buyers are easily duped by unscrupulous traders. In Douala for instance, measuring cups for basic foodstuffs range from FCFA 100, 125 to 150. However, some traders are reported to use the cups of FCFA125 instead of those of FCFA150; or use tricks in measuring less quantity of rice, groundnuts, egusi and other items. Meanwhile, some customers specialise in buying only from children who are hawking or when the main sellers are absent from their stalls; all in a bid to cheat them.