The General Manager, GM, of the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, Franklin Ngoni Njie, has refuted allegations that authorities are planning to transfer the head office of the corporation to Yaounde. The rebuttal is contained in a Press release the CDC boss issued recently.

“As far as we know, there is neither a motivation nor an intention to move the head office from Bota-Limbe. There are equally no negotiations of any kind in this direction. We, therefore, state, categorically, that the information is baseless,” partly reads the press release.

The CDC General Manager holds that: “the ongoing misinformation in the social media, local tabloids and pressure groups pertaining to the alleged transfer of the head office of the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, appears to be based on the misinterpretation of Article 4 of the Articles of Association of the Cameroon Development Corporation approved by the Head of State’s Decree No2016/032 of January 19, 2016”.

While further quoting the provisions of the article that borders on the location of the CDC head office, the General Manager states that: “The head office shall be at Bota-Limbe. However, it may be transferred to any other place in the country by resolution of the Extraordinary General Assembly.

The change of the place of the head office shall entail the amendment of the Articles of Association of the corporation. The amended Articles of Association shall be subject to approval by decree of the President of the Republic.

Subsidiaries, branches, agencies counters and depots of the corporation may be established anywhere by resolution of the Board of Directors, but may not result in a departure from the rules of jurisdiction laid down by these Articles of Association”.

Going by the CDC boss, it is not mentioned anywhere that the head office of the corporation is transferred to Yaounde. He says Article 4 simply outlines the procedure to be followed if and when the head office has to be transferred from Bota-Limbe. To him, it is the same procedure contained in the Articles of Association of the other public corporations.

The press release was a reaction to strong and persistent allegations that Government was planning to transfer the CDC head office from the Bota neighbourhood in Limbe to Yaounde.

The allegations went so viral that Anglophone pressure groups are said to be already spoiling for a showdown with the authorities, should they proceed with such an unpopular decision. There has been an outburst of sentiments from pressure groups swearing that the CDC head office can only be transferred over their dead bodies.

For one thing, the CDC that harbours 22.000 permanent workers is the second biggest employer after the State. It is involved in the cultivation and exportation of rubber, palm oil and banana.

The outfit, of late, has been going through financial difficulties given that the price of one of its crops, rubber, is low in the world market.