SOPECAM Affair: Board Chairman 1, GM 0 ⁰

The General Manager of the Cameroon News and Publishing Corporation (SOPECAM) Marie-Claire Nnana was recently taken aback when the board chairman, Joseph Le, Deputy Director of President Biya’s civil cabinet put his foot down at the ongoing crisis meeting between the two parties to insist that he can still appoint persons within the corporation without holding any board meeting.

Explaining his position of authority, Joseph LE has signed decisions in four areas of SOPECAM.  The decisions that were read over state radio and television, promoted Ignatius Ozela Claude to technical director, Koume Honore, parachuted to the Sales and Marketing department, Ngane Gustave now heads Administration and Finance while Olinga Biyo’o Georges leads Management Control service.

Cameroon Tribune, the newspaper edited by SOPECAM published just a part of the Joseph Le decision bearing the appointments of Ozela Claude Ignatius and Koume Honore leaving out the names of Ngane Gustav and Olinga Biyo’o. An aide to the GM was quoted as saying the Deputy Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic was staging a coup at SOPECAM. Marie-Claire Nnana was heard murmuring privately that what Joseph Le has done is in her view totally irresponsible. Cameroon Intelligence Report understands Marie-Claire Nnana is out of the country on a CPDM mission. Our source at SOPECAM hinted that it will need the intervention of the head of state for things to normalize at SOPECAM.