The
situation whereby the accuser becomes the suspect in a criminal investigation
is the greatest irony of all times. The best known example is the case of King
Oedipus in the famous Greek tragedy “Oedipus Rex” a play adapted and given an
African setting by the Yoruba playwright, Ola Rotimi. A lot of misfortunes are
befalling the people of the Greek city state, Thebes just as it happens to the people of
Kutuje in Ola Rotimi’s play. The people of Thebes consult an oracle who says a horrible
crime has been committed in the land; until the criminal is punished peace
cannot return. In the case of the Greek play, the prophet Tiresius directly
accuse Oedipus their king. In the Yoruba play, it is the seer Baba Fakunle who
accuses kind Odewale. Each of the plays ends with the king, the chief
investigator, being exposed as the criminal.
A similar scenario is unfolding in the Albatross
affair. No case has ever so affected Cameroonians like the Albatross matter
before the Mfoundi high court presided at by Judge Gilbert Schlick. Marafa
Hamidou Yaya and Yves Michel Fotso the two principal accused standing trial for
embezzlement of funds meant for the purchase of a presidential plane have both
implicated Biya.
Marafa kick-started the drama on Thursday August
9, 2012. Marafa who began his accusation of the President in his second open
letter to Biya told the Mfoundi high court that the President was not ignorant
of all what he did in connection with the Albatross case. He also pointed
accusing fingers at Jean Marie Atangana Mebara who took over from him as the
Secretary General at the Presidency. He told the court that not only President
Biya, his wife Chantal was in the know about every move he took.
He said he never ordered the transfer of $29
million to GIA International in 2001 for the purchase of a presidential plane.
What he ordered was the transfer of a Second Generation Business Boeing Jet
(BBJ-2) under construction at Boeing.
Enter Yves Michel Fotso
While
Cameroonians were still trying to savour Marafa’s declaration, Yves Michel
Fotso former Director of Cameroon Airlines, CAMAIR threw another bombshell. He
told the same court that President Biya himself directed the whole process of
acquiring a presidential plane. During his cross examination Fotso made several
references to the Head of State. President Biya, he said, took the decision
that the plane be purchased and that he, Fotso, was present during one of the
meetings to discuss the purchase. The meeting took place in August 2001 at the
presidential palace. That after the final decision to purchase the plane,
Meva’a Meboutou, former Minister of the Economy and Finance decided that the
money be paid case.
Questioned why he decided to sign the contract
after the money had already been transferred, he answered “the head of state
had already taken a decision that the plane should be bought. Who was I to
refuse to disobey (refuse to sign) the instructions of the Minister of
Finance?”
Fotso And Biya In Geneva
But
perhaps the most exciting account so far implicating Biya is that which Yves
Michel Fotso gave last Monday. Fotso told the Mfoundi high court that he sought
and was granted audience by President Biya in Switzerland. This was to state his
position on the issue of the purchase of a presidential plane. He said he took
a rendezvous with the Head of State a week before Biya’s return to the country.
On arrival at the Presidency, he said Jean Marie Atangana Mebara then Secretary
General at the Presidency, told him Biya had said he had decided to negotiate
the issue of a presidential plane directly with the Boeing Company without
passing through GIA, the intermediary. This position contradicted what the
President had told him in Switzerland.
This, he said surprised him (Fotso) exceedingly. He almost picked a quarrel
with Jean Marie Atangana Mebara when he recalled the discussion he had with
Biya at Geneva.
“Are you better informed about the President’s decision than myself” Fotso
quoted Mebara as asking him.
Marafa Emphatic That He
Acted On Biya’s Directives
La
Nouvelle Expression newspaper is more dramatic than all other French newspapers
in reporting the particular court session in which Marafa Hamidou Yaya
implicated his former direct boss, Paul Biya in the Albatross Scandal. The
paper reproduces a cross examination of Marafa conducted by his own lawyer,
former Batonier, Monthe.
Question: Are you convinced that
you carried out very well the assignment (mission) given you by the Head of
State when you were his immediate collaborator?
Answer: I accomplished very
well my mission which was to ensure the acquisition of a new plane. I ensured
the construction of a new plane which was very close to being equipped. It was
immatriculated Cameroonian and insured at Chanas. A team of technicians was
actually received by Mrs. Chantal Biya after I quit position as Secretary
General at the Presidency the concept that administration is continuous was
violated. The consequence of which was the loss of 31 million US dollars by the
state of Cameroon.
Marafa proceeded to explain that many actors
were involved in the process of purchasing a presidential plane for Biya:
himself, Yves Michel Fotso, He said March 25 - 29, 2002 is the period foxed for
the plane, which CAMAIR, through GIA.
Explaining the role of Yves Michel Fotso, he
said he was brought in ad Director of CAMAIR. He was required for his technical
expertise. The head of state and Minister of Finance could not also be left
out. A concertation meeting held at Unity
Palace and the subject
was the purchase of a presidential plane.
Asked why he Marafa didn’t negotiate directly
with Boeing instead of GIA, and save the country the embarrassment of losing 29
million US dollars. To this, he replied that Yves Michel Fotso had already
presented GIA as a credible in the eyes of Boeing with documents that were
satisfactory to all.
Why The Marafa/Fotso
Revelations Are Very Embarrassing to Biya
It
is an honour for the citizens of every country to see their President travel
abroad or return home in a befitting plane. It is shameful, to see a President
stranded abroad as it was the case of Goodluck Jonathan,
Nigeria’s president
sometimes ago in Uganda.
The Nigerian Senate immediately sat and voted that three jets be purchased for
him. Cameroon
is a very rich country which in the days of Amadou Ahidjo often sent a plane to
the Equato-Guinean president to travel.
The idea of a plane for the Cameroonian Head of
State is therefore not out of place. The whole thing became a scandal because
many of the top officials assigned the task to buy a presidential plane were
anxious to make fast cash. Because of this greed, a faulty plane was brought
which nearly cost the President and family to lose their lives.
The issue is more of an embarrassment to Biya
because the decision to buy a presidential plane was taken at a time when the
Regime had portrayed Cameroon
as a poor country. The IMF which Cameroon has solicited for a bail
out would surely find the idea of a new plane incompatible with the idea of
structural adjustment and fighting poverty. The exposure of the Biya regime’s
intrigues through Marafa and Fotso is why the international community and
Cameroonians are interested in the Albatross trial. The days ahead promise
equal or more startling revelations as the trial gathers momentum. But Biya has
one lesson to learn from these embarrassments: that no human being is wise
enough to be successful all the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment