“We did not eject the Senate”

- Christophe Mien Zok, DG Conference Centre

DG of Conf. Centre, Chritophe Mien Zok

The General Manager of the Yaounde Conference Centre has debunked allegations by the press that the Senate was thrown out of the Conference Centre because of accrued rents. Christophe Mien Zok told a press conference in Yaounde that the Senate only had to relocate its offices to another site in order to make way for rehabilitation works to be carried out at the Conference Centre.
    Mien Zok wondered aloud how on earth he would have the audacity and effrontery to ask the Senate President- the second personality of the state after President Paul Biya, to quit his office, for any reason what so ever.
    “Even if the Senate had accrued rents to pay to the Conference Centre, can we have the audacity to force them to check out?” Mien Zok wondered rhetorically, explaining that the Senate had to move its offices because the Chinese company that was contracted to rehabilitate the Conference Centre had to begin its work.   
    “The Chinese company has contractual obligations including a deadline to complete and hand over the job. The company was expected to begin its work in the first semester of 2015 but they only started in August, four months behind schedule, and this was because they had to wait for the institutions lodged at the Conference Centre to relocate,” Mien Zok explained, recalling that the public was since 15 December 2014 informed by way of message that the rehabilitation works on the Centre would commence in the first semester of 2015.

    Mien Zok said all the institutions lodged at the Conference Centre: CONAC, Senate and CPDM Secretariat were also duly notified of the planned renovation works and that the consequences of the project to these institutions had been contemplated and managed internally by all the parties.
    He said the pressure for the Senate and CONAC to vacate their offices came from the Chinese Company that had to respect its contractual obligations.   
    “By vitue of the contract the rehabilitation and renovation works had to start in the first semester of 2015 and to last for 20 to 24 months. But with the 4 months delay I wonder if this deadline will be met,” Mien Zok regretted.
    Constructed some 30 years ago, the Yaounde Conference Centre still stands the test of time, at least architecturally. However, some of its internal and external installations have seriously degraded over time due to wear and tear.
    “It is these installations that have to be replaced with new, modern equipment and materials, apart from other innovations that would be done to give the centre a truly international standard,” the DG of the Conference Centre explained further.