Elite protest Nkueté’s appointment as HEVECAM Board Chair

Elite of the Ocean Division have protested the appointment of Jean Nkueté, as the new Board Chair of HEVECAM.

Jean Nkueté is President Biya’s friend and the Secretary General of the ruling CPDM Party.

Biya appointed Nkueté on January 8, 2016.

The former Board Chair of HEVECAM, who died over a year ago, was one of the local CPDM Section Presidents in the Ocean Division.

After his death, the Governor of the South Region became Interim Board Chair until the recent appointment.

The Ocean elite, who are predominantly CPDM, argue that Nkueté does not hail from their area and will not defend the interest of the local communities in Ocean Division where HEVECAM operates.

Nkueté comes from the West Region.

HEVECAM is an agro-industrial enterprise with headquarters in Niete. It operates mostly rubber plantations that extend across a number of Sub-divisions in the Ocean Division. Initially, it was State-owned until the early 90s when the Government privatized it.

The protest against Nkueté’s appointment has sparked a heated debate in some circles in Douala. Some people think the protest defies the policy of national unity and national integration. Others contend that as CPDM Secretary General, Nkueté won’t have adequate time to oversee the affairs of HEVECAM.

Furthermore, the National anti-Corruption Commission, CONAC, indicted Nkueté in an embezzlement scandal when he was Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

An investigative report released in 2011 exposed a racket at the Ministry of Agriculture which caused the disappearance of hundreds of millions in a maize project.

In a cabinet shakeup on December 9, 2011, President Biya dropped Nkueté from Government and he was hailed for sacking Nkueté.

The public waited to no avail for Nkueté to be arrested and tried.

Nkueté’s situation has also been likened to Prime Minister Philemon Yang’s when he was appointed Camair-Co Board Chairman. Yang was then Deputy Secretary General at the Presidency. Shortly afterwards on June 30, 2009, Yang was appointed Prime Minister. Camair-Co finally took off in March 2011 and did not seem to stay in the air for long perhaps because the Board Chairman was not present in the field himself.

Another hitch with Nkueté as HEVECAM Board Chairman is the fact that the Technical Ministry of HEVECAM, which is the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, might not be able to work cordially with the Board Chair since he is the second most powerful person in the CPDM.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Henri Eyebe Ayissi, a CPDM elite, might find it difficult to discuss issues concerning HEVECAM with Nkueté. This was the case during Yang’s mandate as Board Chairman of Camair-Co.

Naturally, the airline company was under the technical authority of two ministries: the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance.

During the two first years of Camair-Co’s existence, both the Minister of Transport and his colleague of Finance maintained sealed lips even at Board meetings.

Everything went wrong then.

The Minister of Finance could question how the company spent State subventions. As soon as Biya replaced Yang as Board Chairman, the Minister of Finance refused to disburse more State subvention if Camair-Co did not explain how the past subventions were spent.

It was then that the Minister of Transport started criticizing the way Camair-Co was being managed.