The illegal market has been operating in quite a disordered manner for past many years.

Selling and buying along roadsides are immensely popular in port city, Douala. Going from the Douche Municipale area towards bustling commercial heartbeat, Akwa, is a huge garment and footwear market that has steadily developed over a decade beyond the pages of City Council control.

On one of the two pedestrian pavements along the road are business spots always bustling with garments and foot wears sellers and buyers. On the other side are food joints, food and fruit sellers which both are a major impediment in the smooth flow of traffic, right from midday till night. Not only visitors to this illegal market haphazardly park their vehicles which hinder traffic movement but traders also have set up stands on pedestrian pavements and hordes of customers stand on parts of the double lane road to buy.

Located in the heart of the city, the stretch is one of the busiest high streets which are used daily by thousands of commuters. While the road is not wide enough to hold the moving traffic, the crowds at the market, dubbed “spontaneous” or “illegal” by the Douala City Council, DCC, add to congestion which aggravates during weekends and Christmas. The vehicles of visitors cover almost half of the road and most of the pedestrian pavement, especially at noon and during evenings. Traffic becomes stop-and-go at about 3pm, bikes cannot meander through, even pedestrians find it difficult to squeeze through.

In addition to blocking travel lanes physically, events such as robbery that occur on the roadside market are known to have influenced traffic flow by distracting drivers, leading to changes in driver behaviour and ultimately degrading the quality of traffic flow.

Nzoupet Kwinda Maxime, President of the shoe-vendors sector, says, "This place has plenty of problems as people are often buying standing on the road. Besides, this place is full of rowdy men and thieves both at night and in the day."

In response to insecurities, public authorities set up two Police booths to curtail robberies, which have only reduced but other forms (pickpocketing) operate in quite a liberal manner owed to the presence of several businesses – a mix of footwear, travel agencies and food joints with multi-cuisines.