Yaounde – Transport workers in Cameroon threatened on Wednesday to strike next week over a government decision to cut some fuel subsidies, raising the spectre of unrest as the country tries to please international donors.
The government announced on Monday that it was cancelling petrol, diesel and cooking gas subsidies, which would make the price of petrol rise by 14% and diesel by 15%.
But transport fares remain unchanged, leading unions representing drivers of buses, taxis and trucks to complain the higher operating costs would cut into their earnings.
“It is not normal that they should raise the price of petrol and not also the transport fares,” said Pierre Nyemeck, head of the CGSTC, one of Cameroon’s main transportation unions.
“If the government wants to prevent the strike, it should also increase transport fares,” he said.
Cameroon has long produced both oil and cocoa, but analysts say a lack of reform and political stagnation under President Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982, have stymied economic growth and development…
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