We have learnt with deep concern of the recall by the Republic of Chad of its Ambassador to Cameroon. The Government of the Republic of Chad denounces the mafia-like practices of certain Cameroonian personalities who, according to the Government, are trying to get their hands on Chadian oil through an obscure company, “Savannah Energy Plc”.
Press reports reveal that Mr Franck Emmanuel BIYA would have gone to N’Djamena in September 2022, within the framework of this affair, to intervene on behalf of this company.
This trip by a person with no official functions within the State was followed by that of Mr ELUNG Paul CHE, Deputy Secretary General No 1 of the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon, from 21 to 30 November 2022, with the same objective of getting the Chadian authorities to deal with Savannah Energy.
After the AFCON GATE, the COVID GATE, at the national level, the GLENCORE GATE at the international level, here is the SAVANNAHGATE which is already delivering its first consequences, at the diplomatic level.
All this naturally suggests that the Cameroonian personalities referred to by the Chadian government in its communiqué are recruited around the President of the Republic himself.
It is therefore urgent that he clarifies the situation and explains the role of his son in public affairs where he takes steps to defend private interests under an official flag. If not, national and international public opinion will be justified in suspecting him of being personally involved in this other scandal of our Republic, which has been seriously wounded by this case, that is indeed one too many.
Cameroon does not belong to the presidential family and its excrescences. These practices which originated under the so-called ‘New Deal’ regime, and which are transforming our once respected country into a rogue state, jeopardize Cameroon’s interests and even its security. Our country can no longer put up with this descent into hell, where even the Presidency of the Republic has become a Mecca for mafia-like affairs.
Need I remind you that Chad is the only country in Central Africa that stood by Cameroon at the darkest moment of the fight against the Boko Haram sect in 2014? It is a brotherly and friendly country, which has historically always had very good relations with our country. As proof, it is the country in the sub-region where Cameroonian citizens suffer the least harassment and humiliation of all kinds from the authorities of the host country.
The Cameroonian people do not want their relations of friendship and fraternal understanding to be sacrificed on the altar of the private interests of a clan or a group of individuals abusing their position in the State apparatus, in this case the Presidency of the Republic. Our country must maintain the best possible relations with this ally.
At the opening of the ordinary session of the National Assembly on 3 March 2023, the Elderly, Honorable KOA MFEGUE Laurentine, after enumerating an endless list of scandals, declared: “We condemn with the utmost energy the reprehensible cases that constitute all these affairs. This must stop. Cameroon, our dear and beautiful country, cannot become a land of scandals.
I hope that those who are in charge of managing public affairs will show patriotism and moral rectitude. They must know that they are invested with a sacred mission, that of promoting, each at his/her own level, the development of Cameroon.” She did not know, and neither did we, that the worst was yet to come.
Following these strong words of the Honourable Member of Parliament – all the more notable as such confessions are rare from the ruling party-state – I call on the Cameroonian Parliament to open a parliamentary enquiry into this one scandal too many, to give itself a shred of credibility. I call on the Cameroonian Parliament to open a parliamentary inquiry into this scandal to give itself a shred of credibility. The judiciary must urgently open an enquiry into the ‘Savannah Energy GATE’, and hear all the protagonists, whatever their position in the state structures or presidential entourage.
Done in Yaoundé on 22 April 2023
The National President
Maurice KAMTO
