Ayaba Hotel Director Sacked!

- Bamileke (Doume Zacharie) Succeeds Nordist (Jean Baba) As Ex-Workers Bent To Strike July 7

Doume Zacharie (New Director)

Doume Zacharie, a native from the West region was officially installed as the new Director of the Government owned Ayaba hotel in Bamenda. The rite, conducted by Bountsebe Alphonse, Inspector No.1 in the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure took less than an hour. The inspector was the personal representative of Bello Bouba Maigari, Minister of State in charge of Tourism and Leisure. Doume’s installation, witnessed by the Socio-Economic Adviser to the North West Governor’s office, 1^st Assistant SDO for Mezam and staff of Ayaba hotel put a halt to the 10-year reign of Jean Baba. The appointment came in the wake of an announced strike action by some 35 ex-workers of Ayaba, billed for August 7, 2012. Yet, despite the change at the helm, Augustine Halle, spokesperson of the ex-workers told Chronicle that their strike must go on as scheduled.

It was 2.30pm, Thursday July 26, 2012, when the Ministerial decision, appointing Doume Zacharie was read out. The same decision No. 107/CAB/24^th July 2012 also appointed Nji Joseph Adu as the Director of Exploitation, a new position introduced at Ayaba. Nji Joseph hails from Widikum in Momo division. Interestingly, both officials have been appointed to serve on interim basis.

Doume’s appointment/installation came to put a halt to speculations that John Achu, a Douala-based North West businessman was to take over Ayaba hotel, over a privatization deal.

Pedigree of New Team

* Doume Zacharie holds and MSc degree in Management and Marketing, obtained from a Tourism Institution in Spain. He is also holder of BACC A4 Allemagne, and a BA holder in Psychology from the University of Yaounde. He served respectively as sub Director of Marketing; Inspector No.2 before his appointment as Ayaba Director. Born on October 15, 1956 in Bangou (West Region) Doume is married and father of five (5)

* Nji Joseph Adu is the first ever Director of Exploitation at Ayaba hotel. Born on December 13, 1967, he is a native of Widikum in Momo division. He is a holder of two Masters Degrees, one in International Hospitality Management, from the London Metropolitan University.

According to Minister of State, Bello Bouba both officials are tasked with re-establishing the honour which Ayaba hotel had in the past. They have been charged to make Ayaba, the leading hotel in North West and a hotel of reference. The Minister of State for Tourism also urged them to come out with an organigram, status of personnel and their salary scale. They were further urged to be courageous in the exercise of their delicate and exacting functions.

Minister Bello Bouba’s only word to the outgone Director, Jean Baba, was to thank him for his 10 years as Ayaba Director. While to the workers, the Minister urged them to collaborate with the new team.

The North West Governor on his part also urged workers to give their utmost support to the newly appointed/installed officials. He however appreciated the output of the outgone Jean Baba. And to the new team, he quipped: “Ayaba is the pride of the North West: keep it flying’. Sama Benjamin, of the Economic Affair’s division at the NW Governor’s office, represented his boss, who was conspicuously absent. Governor Lele Lafrique was in Yaounde at the time, attending the 3-days regional governors’ conclave.

Hotfiles Awaiting the New Director

Ayaba hotel came into existence in 1984 when the Agro Pastoral Show was hosted in Bamenda. Thus, the hotel is 28 years old today and has been managed by three Directors: Aoudou Tayinnig (West Region) Ngeh Jean Pierre (Bassa) and Jean Baba (Nordist). Doume Zacharie is just the fourth. Implicitly, no indigene from North West has manned the hotel. Expectations that with the projected privatization, John Achu, a NW Douala-based economic operator would take over have not seemingly worked. Some critics even denounced it, stating how it would have been a continuation of the implementation of the Santa mafia.

Shortly after his installation, the new Ayaba hotel Manager held an in-camera working session with the hotel staff. Chronicle gathered that Doume presented his roadmap, yet workers expressed worries about the new status the Minister’s representative harped on.

The declarations at the installation, that the new team should re-establish the fame Ayaba used to have had since been interpreted varyingly. According to observers and some journalists to whom Chronicle spoke to, it was an indication that Jean Baba had failed.

Augustine Halle, a former staff of Ayaba told Chronicle shortly after the installation that they cannot rescind their revendications. He wondered how in December 2010, Ayaba hotel made a profit of over 88 million FCFA only for management to cry of being in red a month later (Watch out for palpitating interview in our upcoming edition of Chronicle).

The newly installed would however have to grapple with the points raised by the 35 dismissed workers of Ayaba. Last July 7, 2012, they tabled a memo titled “Strike Notice” to the new Governor of the North West Region. In the one-paged memo, they noted how since March 2, 2011 they have been on the streets, yet have written to quarters and no response.

According to the memo, the ex-workers are requesting payment of 10 months unpaid salaries and 2 years leave allowances; that though their social insurance (CNPS) dues had been deducted for the past 15 years, they had never benefited family allowances from CNPS. They also complained that there was no termination letter; yet when they protested, they were arrested, tortured and detained for 5 days in three gendarmerie cells in Bamenda.

The 35 protesting workers therefore had these words for the Governor: “We and our children are tired and what we have to do is to take up permanent residence at Ayaba hotel gate, as from the 7^th of August 2012, only to leave when our problems are resolved”.

Other Encumbrances

The December 2010 presidential visit for celebrations marking the 50^th anniversary of the Cameroon Armed Forces in Bamenda was landmark. Ayaba hotel, for the first time, witnessed refurbishment. The lift, which had gone comatose, was revived with the installation of a new one. At least 500 million FCFA was spent to bring back Ayaba hotel to life. The intercom system was démodé; water and electricity in rooms were nonfunctional. In fact, following Chronicle’s investigations, the hotel system was collapsing.

Worse still, Jean Baba persistently complained of high taxes and the inabilities to pay workers, some of whom were overscaled. Some of the problems, Chronicle gathered, still persist today. Reason why Bello Bouba’s representative reiterated the fact that the new Director is tasked to bring back Ayaba to its envious premier position, which it used to occupy. (Affair a suivre…)