On April 23, 2019, a picture was posted on the Facebook page of news website Lewouri.info. In the picture, a corpse completely wrapped and tied at the rear of a motorcycle can be seen. According to the writing following the picture, this is how corpses are transported to Sangmélima mortuary in Dja and Lobo department, in the South.

“Paul Biya spends billions to offer 4X4 vehicles to his prefects, sub-prefects and other civil servants who help him rig elections but, at Sangmélima, one of the two towns where he comes from and where he has been recording 100% votes for 37 years, this is how corpses are wrapped and transported by moto-ambulance,” the legend read.

This picture was not taken in Cameroon but in the Democratic Republic of Congo as one of the comments indicates.

With a google reverse-search, we found the ever first result for this image on Afrikmag.com.  

The article whose title is "RDC : Voici comment les cadavres sont transportés dans certaines zones," (DRC : this is how corpses are transported from or to the mortuary with motorcycles in some regions) was published on April 10, 2018. It was relayed by other websites in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea.

According to Afrikmag.com, this technic is used by poor families who are unable to rent a hearse. The picture was supposedly published on social media by PK Kasrim to denounce the huge profit gained by motorcycles thanks to such practice. We were, however, unable to find such user on Facebook or Twitter.

 Patricia Ngo Ngouem