Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
PM DION NGUTE, Ruled In Favour Of Communication Minister, Rene SADI, In The Conflict Between The MINCOM Boss And NCC President, In The VISION 4 Affair. The PM Ruled That, The Controversial Instruction That Was Given To CANAL + By Minister SADI, That The Signal of VISION 4 Be Reactivated, Stands. VISION 4 Has Since Tuesday, October 6 Been Celebrating Another Victory Over NCC.
The Mentor learnt that the content of the correspondence which the President of the National Communication Council, Joe Chebongkeng Kalabubsu, addressed to the Director of Public Affairs in Francophone Africa at Canal + International Paris, France on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, did not go down well at the Prime Minister’s Office. It should be noted that Presidential Decree No. 2012 / 038 of 23rd January 2012, that created the National Communication Council, placed the institution under the Prime Minister’s Office, or better still, under the Prime Minister.
Even though the Minister of Communication, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, bypassed NCC to directly give instruction to Canal + to reinstate the signal of Vision 4 TV in its bouquet, it was thought that the President of NCC went too far, by publicly engaging in what was considered as a standoff with a member of government, more soin a country like Cameroon where ministers see themselves as demi-gods, and people above the Law.
Chebongkeng was chided for two things in his correspondence. His demand that Canal + should withdraw the signal of Vision 4 TV from its bouquet, after Minister Sadi had instructed that the company should reinstate it, was seen as a clear challenge to the member of government, or better still, a flagrant manifestation of disrespect for the member of government. Also, though NCC is under Prime Minister’s Office, and not under MINCOM, it was thought that Chebongkeng’s decision to raise this point in his correspondence to Canal + International was not necessary, and that it was a show of disrespect to Minister Sadi.
Prime Minister Not Happy With NCC
The Prime Minister and Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, was alleged to had made it clear to the President of NCC, that it was inadmissible for him to show disrespect to a member of government, or to go confrontational with a member of government. The Prime Minister allegedly told Chebongkeng that he should seek appeasement, rather than go confrontational with the Minister of Communication, on the NCC – Vision 4 Affair.
Some people even think that knowing the way ‘big men’ of the regime behave in this country, it would have been wise for the National Communication Council, to instead decide that the President of the Council should go and present the problem to the Prime Minister, when the Minister of Communication instructed Canal + to reactivate the signal of Vision 4 TV, than instead decide that he should write to Canal + International. For one thing, at that stage NCC was fighting a battle than it could never win in a country like Cameroon.
Prime Minister Rules In Favour Of Minister
Suffice to say in the name of appeasement, Prime Minister Dion Ngute ruled on the conflict that erupted between the Minister of Communication, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, and the President of the National Communication Council, Joseph Chebongkeng Kalabubsu, in favour of the member of Government. Of course it could never have been different or otherwise, even though the fact was that, ironically, it was the minister who violated the text that instead won the case. This is Cameroon!
The 48th Extraordinary Session of the National Communication Council, slammed sanction on Vision 4 TV, by suspending the TV Channel for one month. Apparently, since it clear to NCC that the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, would not validate the demand for the SDO of Mfoundi, to go and seal Vision 4 TV in particular, the President of NCC and his close collaborators resolved to go for an alternative, which was to Canal + to suspend the signal of Vision 4 from its bouquet, for the one month period of the suspension that was fixed by the Extraordinary Session of NCC.
But a few days later, the Minister of Communication, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, without bothering to invite NCC for a discussion on the sanction, or even to just inform the Council on what he wanted to do, decided to bypassed NCC , to get straight to Canal +, and demand that the company reinstate the signal of Vision 4. Then there was a standoff on the issue between Minister Sadi and the President of NCC, Joe Chebongkeng . The Chief Judge to resolve the matter, Prime Minister Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute , ruled in favour of the minister, declaring that the controversial decision that the minister took, to lift the sanction, was right, even though the minister has no right to interfere in the decisions of the NCC. And so the Communication Minster lifted the sanction on Vision 4. This is Cameroon!
NCC President Addresses A Correspondence Of Appeasement On The NCC – Vision 4 Affair
The National Communication Council, embarrassingly found itself through the Council’s President, having to address another correspondence on that same issue on that October 6, or better still, a couple of hours after the first. This time around, the correspondence was embarrassingly enough, to support Minister Sadi’s instruction for the reactivation of the signal of Vision 4 TV. This time around, the correspondence was not only addressed to Canal +, but to all General Managers of enterprises in Cameroon, in the distribution of audiovisual signals or images. The President of NCC who in the correspondence called for the immediate reactivation of the signal of Vision 4, said the new position of NCC, fell in line with the spirit of appeasement, that will now be applied in the handling of the Vision 4 file.
This is the except in French: “J’ai l’honneur de vous demander de bien vouloir precede a la reactivation du signal de la chine de television denommee ‘VISION 4’ dans vos bouquets de la progrmme respectifs. Cette mesure s’inscrit d’un traitement apaise du dossier se rapportant aux dernieres mesures de regulation prises par le Conseil a l’encontre du media en cause”.
It should be noted that the correspondence, by the NCC President to support the demand for the reactivation of the signal of Vision 4, had the stamp, ‘TRES URGENT’ , that is, “VERY URGENT”, on it. This was indicative of the pressure under which the President of NCC, found himself.
Frustration Will Have Serious Effects On NCC
Meanwhile, the long and short of it, is that the one month suspension that the 48th Extraordinary Session of the National Communication Council, slammed on Vision 4 TV, lasted only one week. Some people have even praised the Chebongkeng and his team at NCC, for having registered some small success against Vision 4, for though the one month sanction lasted only one week, this was the first ever that NCC succeeded to get Vision 4 to under a period of sanction. NCC succeeded to keep Vision 4 for one week, without its signal. It has never happened.
What is certain is that the failure by the National Communication Council to force Vision 4 to undergo the one month sanction, because of th controversial intervention of a member of Government in favour of the TV channel, is definitely a frustration that will have effects on the Joe Chebongkeng’s team at NCC.
The Frustrating Questions
This is what happened to the Peter Essoka team. The team was waxing strong until it got frustrated by Vision 4. The Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, refused to instruct the SDO of Mfoundi (Yaounde), to enforce any sanction slammed on Vision 4. It should be noted that the NCC has no power to go and seal any office. It is the SDOs, and an SDO cannot do it, if his hierarchy boss does not give approval. That was why, one of the first things that Joe Chebongkeng did when he was appointed President of National Communication Council, was to pay an official visit to the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, to request for a good working relationship between MNAT and NCC.
But despite all the measures that Chebongkeng took, to try to lay a good groundwork for a good working relationship with a number of ministries, that NCC would need to work or collaborate with, which include the Ministry of Communication, it has still not work when Vision 4 is concern. But like happened with Peter Essoka and his team, Joe Chebongkeng and his team will find themselves faced with the frustrating and embarrassing question, of how fair it will be for them, to continue to go ahead to slam sanctions on other media organs and journalists that commit serious faults, when Vision 4 and journalists arrogantly tell off NCC ,and refuse to respect NCC sanctions, and are protected by some members of the regime.
More so, as is being seen on the social media since Tuesday, October 6, when NCC will sanction any other media organ and tries to force to respect the sanction, the question that will certainly come up, will definitely be, Why Us, or Why Me?
Vision 4 Celebrates Another Victory Over NCC
Meanwhile, in their traditional arrogant manner, the journalists and other staffs of Vision 4 TV, have since Tuesday, October 6, 2026, been provocatively celebrating what they consider as another victory over the National Communication Council. On Wednesday, October 7, 2026, Martial Thaddee Owona, the Vision 4 journalist, who did the horrible story that landed the media house into trouble with NCC, without any show of remorse, instead mocked the President of NCC, Joe Chebongkeng , with a provocative question on social media : “SI JE T’AVAIS DIS DE QUITTER DERRIERE LES PROBLEMATIQUES DES PROBLEMES, EST CE QUE TU ALLAIS M’ECOUTE JOE???”. Hum!
