Aviation Company in feud over leadership

By Ndumbe Bell Joseph Gaston in Douala

Leadership problems are reported to have sparked controversy in a private aviation company which saw the light of day in April 2023, amidst workers demand for eight months of unpaid salaries.

Fly ZeJet may be disintegrating into dissolution if care is not taken because of a decision of the board of directors chaired by Celestin Nana Tchouankam, to replace Christophe Semengue, (the supposed founder of the company with a 37.5 percent shares) on April 5, 2024.

The ZeJet

Workers petitioned in an official correspondence to management that the company should not be allowed to die because of the initial laudable performance that Fly ZeJet realised. It was extraordinary to note that when launched in April 2023, this airline in just about eight months in the air in Cameroon reportedly made a mouth – watering turn-over of FCFA 1, 2 billion by end of December 2023.

As the leadership feud rages on, Christophe Semengue is seriously contesting the board of directors’ decision to replace him with Constant Max Minsi, in an information note endorsed by the Chair – Celestin Nana on April 23, 2024.

Following a May 16, 2024, readout, Christophe Semengue called his dismissal from General Manager an ambush provoked by a “group of administrators with clearly unacknowledged interests”.

By this group, he is reported to be referring to some board members who came representing their company as the Global Trade Corporation Sarl and acquired 50 percent shares of Fly ZeJet in February 2021, headed by Christian Mataga, a close friend to Frank Biya.

The workers too are not giving up! They wrote that it is unacceptable, stating that they have various responsibilities like other parents and working in good faith especially when in May 2024 the board of directors through the board chair asked them to support the new management hoping to see positive results. It has however become clear that the stakeholders and the board seem to have little concern on that and only focused on other interest.

Some of the other interests are that the CNPS which is the third largest shareholder with 12.5 percent stakes is not yet involved in the power shuttle.

Cameroon Business Magazine says according to close sources, the real flashpoint is the positioning of the private aviation company in its closeness with Camair-co. The underlining difference is that while Christophe Semengue, a former Air France executive, is firm on having founded a company that is competing with the public carrier Camair – Co and with having nothing to do with it, Christian Masaga’s GTC SARL is pushing to partner with the national carrier and even to sell company jets when the situation arises. It will be good for government to step in and broker an amicable settlement.

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