The political tussle currently going on between transport minister, Edgar Alain Mebo Ngoo and the Chairman of the national airlines company Camair-Co, Mefiro Oumarou has taken a new dimension that will require the intervention of the head of state.

A Board of Directors meeting that held on August 22, 2016, installed a new management team to run the Cameroon Airlines Corporation (Camair-Co). Ernest Dikoum was appointed general manager and Mefiro Oumarou presently serving as deputy minister of transport was made Chairman of the Board of the national airline.

President Biya reportedly gave a roadmap to the new duo to implement the recovery plan designed by Boeing Consulting to help restructure the company whose debts has amounted to some 35 billion FCFA. Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered that Mefiro Oumarou, the new board chairman aims to establish new actions against that proposed by Boeing Consulting and validated by President Biya and by extrapolation, Minister Edgar Alain Mebo Ngoo.

Our chief economic affairs correspondent in Douala opined that Mefiro Oumarou seems to have the right way forward for Camair-Co.  The American manufacturer Boeing had advocated among other solutions to revive the national airline company, the purchase of nine new aircraft between 2019 and 2020 in addition to the five existing planes.

Camair-Co board chairman, Mefiro Oumarou has made it public to the minister of transport and the head of state that, “We do not restructure a business by buying cars. I think you first put the structure in place. You define how you will go about to deliver quality services. It is from there that you say what kind of vehicle can be adapted to the type of service you want to offer.”

However, the controversy is all about legitimate authority as President Biya had validated the Boeing report halfway through that necessitated the release of 60 billion CFA francs. Biya’s action according to Mefiro Oumarou is not a business plan but a kind of stimulus injection into Camair-Co.

Since Mefiro Oumarou is not a Beti-Ewondo highly placed government official! He is however, a Francophone. So, Biya should at least listen to him. A stitch in time saves nine

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai