By NDI EUGENE NDI

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The government of Cameroon has raised eyebrows after suspending a Russian-developed ridesharing app Yango which has been accused of flouting regulations in the country.

Yango started operations in Cameroon in 2021 and the country is one of at least nine in Africa where the service operates. Others include the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Zambia, Angola, Algeria and Mozambique.

“Activities of public transport operated via the Yango digital platform are suspended until they are brought up to standard,” Cameroon’s Transport Minister Jean Ernest Massena Ngalle Bibehe said in a statement.

‘Call to order’

The suspension, the statement said, follows “a call to order” earlier addressed to operators of the ridesharing app.

In September last year, the government issued a warning to Yango to comply with rules governing the road transport sector in the country after unionists complained of unfair competition. The ride-sharing app operator was then asked to open an office in Cameroon, declare its fares and taxes and publish its terms of use to clients among other things as required by the law.

Yango had yet to respond to a mailed request for comments.

Some Cameroonians who were already accustomed to the ride-hailing app have taken to the social media calling on authorities to review the decision with the hashtag #BringBackYango since the suspension was announced on Wednesday.

“Yango is a lifesaver...not with these old and not too clean cabs in Yaounde,” a user, Indira Eteng said in a message on social media.

Calls to review decision

The consumers have been backed by a consumer protection organisation and a transporters syndicate in the country who have also joined their voices in calling on government to review the decision.

The president of the Cameroon Consumers League (LCC) Delor Magellan Kamseu Kamgaing told The EastAfrican that the organisation had protested and requested the Transport minister to postpone the decision and give the operator additional time to comply with the regulations in force.

“Yango's activities guarantee a quality of service highly appreciated by its customers, particularly the affordable cost of a ride and safety of the passengers onboard the hired vehicles,” Kamgaing said.

Taxis are the most common form of transportation found in Yaoundé and Douala – Cameroon’s biggest cities where Yango operates. Yet, unlike in other African countries where taking a taxi is a luxury and taken when one needs comfort, most taxis in these cities are unattractive to many middle-income earners.

Painted yellow, most township taxis are in pathetic state characterised by torn seats, broken headlights, no side mirrors and rough cabins due to repeated scratches. Besides, city dwellers say they are uncomfortable with the overloading of passengers. 

According to the president of the National Federation of Professional Drivers' Unions of Cameroon Patrice Samen, Yango came in to modernise the sector.

“It is not normal that Yango is suspended. Yango does not do ordinary pick and drop that normal township taxis do,” Samen said, adding that if the government had dialogued with the syndicate, they would have advised otherwise.