CAMWATER General Manager, Alphonse Roger Akoa, has returned to
office, two Directors whom he had sacked from the water utilities
corporation. Roger Akoa acted on President Biya’s orders that passed
through the Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh and
quickly reinstated the two Directors.On Friday, October 14, the Chief of Communication at CAMWATER confirmed that the two Directors had been reinstated.
It would be recalled that on September 19, Roger Akoa sacked the Director of Administrative and Financial Affairs, Dieudonne Mah, who was immediately replaced with one Jean Roger Biounoung, and the Director of Patrimony, Marc Essomba Bomba, who was replaced by Hubert Claude Owona.
The General Manager had accused the sacked Directors of mismanaging funds. He did not give any further details.
However at CAMWATER, many workers believed that Mah and Bomba were victims of score-settling by the Minister of Water and Energy, Basile Atangana Kouna, against the former General Manager of CAMWATER, William Sollo.
Sollo was sacked a few months ago and was replaced by Roger Akoa who also hails from Mbankomo area in the outskirts of Yaounde. Akoa seems to owe his appointment to Minister Kouna.
Meanwhile, Mah and Bomba were appointed by Sollo when he was General Manager. The two are considered by Minister Kouna and the current General Manager of CAMWATER as Sollo’s men.
The main problem with the September 19 sacking is that it was illegal because the General Manager did not have the competence to sack the Directors considering their category, neither did he have the competence to appoint their successors.
According to the text, the General Manager is supposed to make the proposal for the appointment or the dismissal of a Director or somebody in that category in the corporation, to the Board of Directors.
That was why in reaction to the sackings, the Board Chair of CAMWATER, Jerome Obi Eta, on September 21, wrote to the General Manager asking him to reverse, with immediate effect, the decision he took to sack the two Directors.
The Board Chair reminded the General Manager that he did not have the competence to dismiss the Directors. But rather than reverse the decision, Roger Akoa ignored the Board Chair and even locked the doors of the offices of the two Directors.
On September 26, the Chief of Communication at CAMWATER, Pierre Julien Amougou, had said that Akoa is a Senior Civil Administrator and thus knows better administrative procedures.
Meanwhile, Obi Eta reported the matter to Prime Minister, Philemon Yang, and filed another complaint to President Biya. Biya ruled in favour of the sacked Directors.
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