By LUSY LIMA
A Cameroonian from the diaspora who recently returned permanently to Cameroon to establish a real estate business and start an accounting firm is reported to be on the run following attacks and threats on his life by both separatists’forces and government security operatives.
According to reports, Chretien Keungne has been in Cameroon for some time now with plans to stage a ready-made real estate project worth hundreds of millions of Francs CFA.
As news of his plans broke loose in the media, he started receiving calls presumably from separatists’fighters asking him to support them in what have been termed“the struggle” or he would be kidnapped and killed if he didn’t cooperate.
For fear of the unknown, he is reported to have sent some money to the separatists by mobile money transactions as requested by the latter.
This transaction to buy his head from the separatists’fighters seems to have put him in double trouble as government security operatives after tracking down the transaction are after him for supporting terrorism.
The business mogul is now caught in a web of giving more to the separatists for fear of being kidnapped and killed and to face the military courts on charges of sponsoring terrorism.
According to the 2013 anti-terrorism law, anyone who is accused of supporting terrorism is judged in a military tribunal and is likely to face a sentence of between 15 and 25 years, a life sentence or a death penalty at maximum.
We are told that government security operatives have launched a man hunt for him alleging that he has also been financing the separatists from when he was still living abroad.
Separatists forces are also behind him to support them, threatening close relatives to reveal his whereabouts.
It should be noted that Mr Keungne earned an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from Montreat College in the United States of America in 2016 and a MSc (Master of Science) in accounting at the University of Liverpool, London, United Kingdom, after studying at the latter from September 2018 to September 2019.
He had a PASS WITH DISTINCTION which is the highest degree classification in the UKS higher education system.
Following these studies, he acquired a good number of licenses and certifications such as The North Carolina Licensed Assisted Living Administrator(License # A00002378), NAB Certified Assisted Living Administrator(License ID 000-47-6835), ServSafe Certified Food Protection Manager(Certification # 9886483), ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) part-qualified accountant ID 6279247with 11 modules out of 15, and finally ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Global part-qualified accountant ID 4641760 with 9 modules out of 13.
It’s worth mentioning that this is such as lost for the country as such a highly qualified and experienced professional is forced to run for his life, at a time when the country would benefit so much from its best citizen returning home from the diaspora. According to our sources also, this situation must be very frightening for Chretien as his father was arrested in April 1991 by government forces during the “Ghost towns operation” which set the country on fire and was never seen alive again.
His return to Cameroon according to our sources was well intended to give back to his community what they gave to him.
By press time, the whereabouts of the business man was unknown and the state of the real estate venture which intended to employ thousands of young Cameroonians uncertain.