Bamenda ghost town spillover feared in Bafoussam
By Takang Rachael
“oui vous voulez faire comme les boko haram en bamenda et buea” these are the words used by some frantic uniformed officers after they stormed the Bafoussam central market to force traders to open up their stores.
All stores of the Bafoussam central market remained shut last Monday, April 3, 2017and no one was ready to open their shop. Panic gripped local authorities as they feared a potential spill over of the ghost towns that have been rocking the adjoining North West region.
Few minutes after 10am that Monday morning, forces of law and order stormed the market in their numbers. Most of the market men and women The Sun spoke to said they were intimidated and sometimes harassed to open their shops. Store owners were questioned as to why their shops were closed. Some of the officers could be heard asking the store owners want to become like the terrorists in Buea and Bamenda, they said ” vous voulez faire comme les boko haram en Bamenda et Buea” And at this point their shops were sealed.
Information gathered at the scene revealed that the traders were protesting against high taxes, exorbitant rents in the face of low sales.