The new telecommunications operator in Cameroon, Viettel Cameroon, the mobile operator of Nexttel, has been rocked by managerial crisis, less than one month from start up. Investigations show that the delay in the launching of the activities of the company which has been given a one year monopoly over the 3G network which it is currently operating had actually been caused by internal conflicts.
The bone of contention lies in the non-respect of terms of
agreements by the Vietnamese. The Guardian Post gathered that contrary to norms
that guide the creation and functioning of multinational companies, there are
only nine Cameroonians among the fifty six top management staff.
According to our findings, the nine Cameroonians in
Viettel’s top management positions are just figure heads. The management
proper, it has been observed, is in the hands of Vietnamese managers.
The Guardian Post learned that over 300 more Vietnamese were
brought in to add to the 200 who were already employed in the company. The
first group of 200 had been imported under the pretext that they were coming to
manage the technical aspects in the setting up of the company.
A majority of the Vietnamese at Viettel occupy positions
which could be effectively and efficiently handled by competent Cameroonians
who have the required background, knowledge of the Cameroon culture, laws and
the fiscal landscape of the country. Fears are therefore heightened that
Viettel’s expected rapid growth may be hindered by the present occupants of
these positions (Vietnamese) who have little or no knowledge of the realities
on the ground.
According to investigations carried out by The Guardian
Post, the files of the employees from Vietnam who have already been in Cameroon
for over one year and a half are 100% irregular. Sources say the teething
irregular Vietnamese documents would have long been resolved if the persons
charged with updating their files were Cameroonians.
Viettel’s promising future, observers fear, may be marred by
its top management’s non respect of the prime ministerial decree number
93/571/PM of July 1972 which lays down the conditions for the employment of
foreigners in Cameroon. The conditions provide limits to the employment of
foreigners to work as ‘manoeuvres’, labourers, employees and agents.
In what has been clearly established as a flagrant and
provocative disrespect of the laws of their host country, Cameroon, the
Vietnamese have gone ahead to award key administrative ,human resources
management, finance, accounting and legal advisers’ posts to their countrymen.
This, despite the availability of qualified Cameroonian experts who can
effectively and efficiently run these offices.
The Guardian Post has it on good authority that as a way of
respecting the prime ministerial decree of July 1972 regarding the employment
of foreigners in Cameroon, the board of directors of the company held a working
session in Ndawara in March 2013, during which the Cameroonian born Viettel
board chairman, El Hadji Ahmadou Baba Danpullo reiterated the need for the
company to respect the prime ministerial decree.
Being a peace-lover and one who respects state institutions
and the rule of law, Baba Danpullo, The Guardian Post gathered, succeeded
during the board meeting to convince his Vietnamese partners that Cameroonians
should be trained within the framework of the transfer of technology which is
an obligation for the company.
It was thus resolved at the close of the board meeting that
a training and integration program be organised in Hanoi for the best employees
in all domains before the launching of the activities of the company. The
program, however did not hold as was agreed at the board meeting; apparently
because the Vietnamese do not have plans to transfer technology to their
Cameroonian employees.
A strongly-worded complaint against the Vietnamese director
general of Viettel, a copy of which The Guardian Post stumbled on accuses him
of treating his Cameroonian collaborators with disdain. ‘He treats his
collaborators as ordinary customers; this could create permanent conflicts
within the management team. The director general also is not transparent,
disrespects the laws governing the telecommunication sector in Cameroon and
equally has disregard for shareholders’, a portion of the petition reads.
The Guardian Post gathered that as if to add pepper to an
already deepening wound, the principle of double signature which was instituted
by the Chamber of Commerce to protect the interest of Cameroonian employees in
multinational companies based in the country is not respected by the
Vietnamese.
Viettel Cameroonian shareholders, The Guardian Post has been
hinted, are completely cut off from the management of the company despite the
fact that it was thanks to their clean moral record and unmatched loyalty to
the Biya regime that the company got its authorisation.
Reports indicate that the rising scuffle between
the Cameroonian and Vietnamese employees of the mobile telephone provider had
showed its ugly face about four months to its official launch.
Cameroonian born El Hadji Baba Ahamadou Danpullo,
it should be said, is the board chairman of Viettel Cameroon; keeping 30% of
the company’s capital while the managing director of Viettel Global JSC, Nguyen
Duy Tho, a Vietnamese, is deputy board chairman.
The company obtained its licence to operate in
Cameroon since December 2012 and had announced that its activities were to be
launched in January 2014. The launching date was postponed following several
differences. The differences which were seemingly buried have however
resurfaced barely a month after the launching of its product, Nexttel.
Management crisis notwithstanding, Nexttel subscribers
have testified that the telephone company’s services are fast, cheaper and
reliable. Nexttel, subscribers say, has a high speed internet connection which
is the fastest in the country so far.
By press time, all attempts to get Viettel board
chairman, Baba Danpullo react to news of the company’s management
misunderstanding were futile. Vietnamese Viettel shareholders were also not
available for their own side of the story. Affaire à suivre...
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