It was a surprising scene at the conference room of the National Ports Authority in Bonanjo, Douala, and Tuesday March 22. Many had come for a board meeting not having a clue that Etoudi Oyono has been reinstated into his position as GM, several months after he went missing, allegedly due to his failing health.

Stakeholders of the port saw Oyono, hitherto sacked, sitting as chair of the gathering instead of the interim, Charles Mokoko Njoh, who was appointed in his absence.

Oyono was last seen in that capacity as GM in August, 2015 when he headed a delegation to Europe for a business trip. While the delegation returned to the country, he stayed back for treatment for a yet to be disclosed illness. Five months after his absence, precisely on 23rd December, 2015, a board meeting nominated Mokoko into the position of acting general manager.

Barely three weeks after Mokoko went to work, Oyono, resurfaced in Cameroon and was spotted around the premises of the ports authority visibly looking weak and depressed. Ever since, the interim GM had been going about with his new function unperturbed. This had people concluding that Oyono was no longer returning as GM and that Mokoko could likely be raised to a full time GM.

However, the resurfacing of Oyono during the Tuesday meeting as GM in the presence of the Transport Minister invariably means he has been reinstated to that position without a formal announcement.

This provoked agitation from the stakeholders and they questioned why Oyono could take over office without them duly notified. The meeting which was to be a joyous one and strategy oriented, got turned into a fidgeting and questions begging for answers gathering.