Franklin Ngoni Njie, General Manager of the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, has admitted that current law permits the head office of the corporation to be moved from Limbe, but he insists there are currently no such plans to move the head office of the company to Younde as reported in the local media recently.

In a communiqué dated 14 July, 2016 widely circulated on social media, Njie said the information regarding the transfer of the agro-industrial complex’s head office was simply a misinterpretation of article 4 of the company’s articles of association.

The communiqué read in part: “The ongoing misinformation in social media, the internet, tabloids and some pressure groups pertaining to the alleged transfer of the head office of the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, appears to be based on a misinterpretation of article 4 of the articles of association of the CDC approved by the head of state in decree no. 2016/032 of 19 January 2016,” the opening paragraph of the communiqué read.

Detailing the said article 4, he added; “The article is entitled registered Office-Branches. It reads thus: 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 an 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.”

The GM then concluded: “Nowhere is it mentioned that the head office of the CDC is transferred to Yaounde. Article 4 simply outlines the procedure to be followed if and when the head office has to be transferred from Bota-Limbe. 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.”

It would be recalled that last month, information went viral that negotiations for the transfer of the CDC head office were being done by government authorities.

It was rumoured then that the probable reason for the purported transfer of the head office of the agro-industrial complex which currently boasts over 22,036 employees, was in line with the new status of the corporation.

It should be recalled that a decree dated 19 January, 2016, signed by President Paul Biya transformed the corporation into a multi-engaging public utility corporation with the state as unique owner of all shares.

The decree transforming the CDC which floated in 1947 under the pre-independence British administration into a new statute had largely been criticised by Anglophone groupings that saw it as a calculated attempt of marginalisation.

The change of statute, it should be noted, came with such portfolio objectives as acquisition, creation, administration, exploitation and development of agricultural enterprises through production and transformation of produce.

By the same text, the CDC is expected to assist small holders (individuals or groups) cultivating similar crops as CDC within the perimeters of CDC factories. It will commercialize agricultural produce either raw or transformed (with added value).

As a major outcome of the new statute, the CDC, the text further indicates, exercises other operations directly linked to the afore-mentioned objectives by means of creation of new companies, inputs, fusion, association or participation and other means with regards to the development of the Corporation.

Governed by a 12-member board of directors representing government ministries and statutorily, the two governors of the North West and South West regions, the CDC is headed by a general manager and the current one was installed in January 2013. The CDC has a new statutory social capital of FCFA 35,718,550,806.

Another super governing structure was added to the existing two, namely; the general assembly whose members include representatives of some five government ministries and whose role may be in an ordinary session to approve the audits, appoint, remunerate and revoke the auditor.

The CDC has as major produce; banana and semi-finished rubber, palm oil and palm kernel. It operates nine rubber estates, six oil palm estates, five rubber factories and two palm oil mills in Mondoni and Lobe. Recently, the corporation engaged in a number of extension projects to enhance its productivity.