Audacity versus bottom power at SOPECAM:

Joseph Le and Marie Claire Nnana eye-ball to eye-ball

An extraordinary board of directors meeting called by the Board Chairman of SOPECAM on 31 May 2016 was vigorously opposed by the General Manager who considered that it was in violation of two presidential decrees signed in April 2016.

By EssanEkoninyam in Yaounde

Joseph Anderson Le

It is now evident that all is not well between the Board Chairman of the state-owned Cameroon Press and Publishing Corporation (SOPECAM), Joseph Le, and the Director General, Marie Claire Nnana. The wind that exposed the bad blood between the two personalities is the holding on 31 May 2016 of an extraordinary board of directors meeting which the one saw as legal and imperative and the other as illegal and uncalled for.

                What actually divides the two former practicing journalists is the presidential decree n° 2016/216 of 28 April 2016 transforming SOPECAM into a Public Company and another decree n° 2016/217 of 28 April 2016 approving new statutes for SOPECAM. In effect, Marie Claire Nnana argued that the two presidential texts annulled all other existing texts or clauses in them that were contrary and repugnant to the new texts including the one authorizing the holding of the 31 May extraordinary board session which was made public on 27 April 2016.

                She maintained that the decrees made substantial modifications on the status of SOPECAM and also on its organizational structure. For instance, one of the texts created a general assembly for the company while at the same time reconstituting the board of directors by dropping some ministries and institutions that were formerly represented in it such as the MINEPAT, MINCOMMERCE, MINMIDT and the National Assembly.

                In addition, the Director General (DG) and his/her Assistant will henceforth be appointed by the Board of Directors, upon the proposal of the state.

                It should be understood that by virtue of article 41 of law n°99/016 of 22 December 1999 bearing on the general statutes of public and para-public companies the board of directors has extensive powers to act in the name of these companies.

                All of which leads to the following pertinent question: Could the old board of directors legally sit in session after the publication of the new presidential texts that modified its composition? 

For her part, Marie Claire Nnana argued that it was necessary for the board president to cancel his announcement on 27 May 2016 convening a board session on 31 May 2016. She said by so doing they will have time enough for the new texts to become applicable. Besides Mrs. Nnana argued that it is illegal for the old board to still sit and take important decisions that will affect the life and future of the company. 

                For Joseph Le, the present board had to continue working while awaiting the texts of application of the new texts which will include the appointment of new officials by the President of the Republic. Joseph Le is supported in his argument by some members of the board of directors, including the secretary-general of the MINCOM, Emmanuel Ndjéré (a magistrate and representative of the Presidency of the Republic who is also the president of the contracts commission of SOPECAM) as well as Christian Wangue (a journalist by profession). For these two administrators, the holding of a board of directors meeting cannot be said to be illegal.

                Conversely, Marie Claire Nnana thinks there is clearly a problem of illegality. She bases her argument on article 5 of decree n°2016/216 of 28 April 2016 which provides that all past dispositions contrary to the present decree, particularly those of decree n°85/1716 of 12 December 1985 reorganizing SOPECAM, are cancelled. To the director general therefore, holding a board of directors meeting where administrators who are not approved by the new decree would sit is tantamount to going against the decree of the President of the Republic.    

                Reliable sources at SOPECAM told The Median that Joseph Le’s motivation to hold the extraordinary board of directors meeting was his desire to appoint a certain HonoréKoumé (a senior inspector of taxes who hails from Le’s East region of origin) in the commercial and marketing department of SOPECAM, in replacement of Alex Mimbang who was recently appointed head of the communication unit of MINEPAT. Koumé, we further learned, had been dropped from his position as State Inspector at the Supreme State Audit and was thus jobless and without a salary since March this year.

                Our sources revealed that the board chair had earlier proposed HonoréKoumé for the post of financial and administrative director of SOPECAM, a proposal which the DG adamantly rejected on the pretext that she could not recruit a cadre and immediately propel him to such a strategic position. Marie Claire Nnana, we were informed, kept the Communication minister in the know when Joseph Le “unorthodoxly” insisted and appointed Koumé upon the approval of the board of directors.

                The arm-twisting is causing a lot of anxiety amongst workers and onlookers who are at a loss as to what will happen next.