Legal action will be taken in the days ahead to redress the prejudice the fraudulent laying of optical fibre cables by a yet-to-be-known company could have caused the State of Cameroon, its security and telecommunications in particular. Sources at Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel) say when the clandestine job was uncovered; Camtel immediately contacted a bailiff with whom they went to the field to see what happened.
As to how legal action could be undertaken against an unknown person or entity, the Head of the Communication Unit at Camtel, Benjamin Gérard Assouzo'o, said the disgruntled workers who let the cat out of the bag provided telephone numbers through which the impostors could be unmasked. "We have telephone numbers of some of the officials of the companies that did the work and we can contact the mobile phone operators to get more information. We want to get the judicial police, for our goal is to know who is behind the fraudulent work," he said.
Payment of the workers was due yesterday afternoon at Long, some 40 km from Yaounde and it could serve as an opportunity for investigators to know more about the masterminds. As at press time yesterday September 13, 2012, nothing had filtered yet from that end. But as Camtel undertakes the investigation, fear is that the results might shoot the telecommunications power house on the leg. The fraudulent work has been going on for weeks.
For the 70 km from Douala to Edea, the diggers reportedly said work began in July, meaning it went on for more than a month. Meanwhile, planting of 80 km of cable from Boumnyebel to Yaounde in the Centre Region went on for three weeks. The workers were about to begin the Boumnyebel-Ezeka-Lolodorf stretch of the job when the fraud was discovered. All this without the raising of any alarm either from the Department of Infrastructure of Camtel, its regional bureau in Douala or from local administrative or traditional authorities of the areas through which the cables passed. Also, the cables - at least some of them, the diggers testified - had Camtel inscriptions. This explains why they did not suspect any foul play.
As if to endorse the hypothesis that Camtel officials are involved in the dirty game, people who are wondering aloud within the house say no theft or loss of optical fibre cables has been reported of recent. Heads are likely to roll even before justice takes its course on what would have been a blow to the country's telecommunications sector as well as the security of its citizens.
