Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
To How Many Collaborators Has President Biya Delegated Power? On January 26, 2026, The Chief of Special Military Staff Of The President, Brigadier General AMOUGOU EMMANUEL, Addressed Correspondences To Some Members Of Gov’t, Telling Them About A “High Accord” Of The President. But It Was Countered By The Decision Of A Meeting That PM DION NGUTE, Chaired Three Days Later.
With the exception of two or so close collaborators, the other close collaborators of President Biya at the Presidency, do not have the competence to address official correspondences directly to members of Government in the name of the President of the Republic. Even the few that have the power to address correspondences to members of Government in the name of the President of the Republic, are supposed to do so exclusively on the “High Instruction” of the President.
Delegation Of Power To The Secretary General At The Presidency
The first of such personalities is the Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh. On February 5, 2019, President Biya signed a decree, delegating part of his powers as President of the Republic, to the Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh. Article 1 of the decree read: “Delegation Permanente de signature est accordee a Monsieur Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Secretaire General de la Presidence de la Republique, a l’effet du signer, au nom de President de la Republique , toute pieces et correspondences relatives au affaires administratives courantes”. Approximate translation reads: “Permanent delegation of signature is accorded to Mr Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Secretary General at the Presidency, to sign in the name of the President of the Republic, all documents and correspondences related to current administrative affairs”.
It should be noted that Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh is not the first Secretary General at the Presidency, to whom President Biya has delegated part of his powers. Ngoh Ngoh’s immediate predecessor, Laurent Esso, who is currently Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency, for example, also benefitted from that privilege. The difference is that Ngoh Ngoh’s predecessors, to whom President Biya delegated part of power, were in office at a time that the President was still strong and alert, and so it was difficult to use that power for personal interest, because the President could then easily get to know about it. But the President of the Republic today is over 90 years old, and naturally no longer has that capacity to be alert or stay vigilant.
The Director Of Civil Cabinet
Meanwhile, there is also the Director of Civil Cabinet at the Presidency, who on the “High Instruction” of the President of the Republic can, can address a correspondence to a member of Government. But it is strictly on issues that fall within the domain of the Civil Cabinet. Unlike with the case of Ngoh Ngoh, the current Secretary General at the Presidency, the competence of the Director of Civil Cabinet, to address such a correspondence to a member of Government on issues strictly within the domain of the Civil Cabinet, comes from the authority accorded to that office or post. That is, it is part of the function of that office. Thus it is not a delegation of power by the President.
For example on January 21, 2026, the current Director of Civil Cabinet , Mvondo Samuel Ayolo, addressed a correspondence to the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, to pass a message, that President Paul Biya had designated the minister to represent him at the CEMAC Head of States meeting that held in Brazzaville, Congo Republic on January 22
The “High Accord” Of The President Of The Republic
During the crisis that rocked the Douala Port in January and part of February 2026, the Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, convened a meeting that brought together the management of the Douala Port Authority commonly known by the French acronym, PAD, and the Customs Administration, at the Presidency on January 22, 2026. The second of the two resolutions that was adopted at the January 22 meeting, stated that the different parties in the conflict at the Douala Port, would wait for a clear Government position on the choice of the operator to carry out the cargo inspection by scanning at the port.
On January 26, 2026, that is, four days after the meeting at the Presidency, the Chief of Special Military Staff of the President (‘Le Chef d’Etat –Major Particulier du President de la Republique’). Brigadier General AMOUGOU Emmanuel , addressed correspondences to some members of Government, who included the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Transport, as well as the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, Joseph Beti Assomo.
Same Message To The Members Of Gov’t
The content of the correspondences addressed to the members of government, was the same, with the main message being: “J’ai l’honneur de vous rendre compte de ce que le Chef de L’Etat, Chef des Forces Armees, a bien voulu marque ‘OUI’, a la solilicitant que ‘La Societe SGS quitte definitivevement l’emprise portuaire de la Port Autononne de Douala, afin d’eviter le sabotage de travail de la Societe Transatlantic D. SA”. The Chief of Special Military Staff of the President in that message addressed to some members of Government, said he had the honour to render account of the fact that the Head of State, Chief of the Armed Forces, had given his accord or approval to the proposal that SGS should leave the Douala Port, to avoid the sabotage of the work of Transatlantic D. SA.
The correspondence addressed to some members of Government, by the Chief of Special Military Staff of the President of the Republic, was strange, it looked unprecedented, it was embarrassing, and even confusing. Apparently, never before in President Biya’s 43 long year stay in power, had there been a situation where a military officer, who is a close collaborator of the President of the, addressed a correspondence directly to a member of Government, on the order of the President.
The Latest Issue Of Credibility
Since President Biya himself has so far not said anything on this particular issue, The Mentor News cannot tell whether the President actually gave his ‘High Accord” that SGS Scanning Cameroun SA, a subsidiary of SGS International, with which the Cameroon Government signed an agreement in 2015, should leave the Douala Port. That is, leave the Douala Port in favour of Transatlantic D. SA that the management of the Douala Port Authority forcefully brought into the port, to replace SGS. And more so, in flagrant violation of the agreement, that was signed in 2015 between the Government and SGS International, which is still in force.
What The Mentor News observed, was that many Cameroonians doubted the credibility of the “High Accord” that President Biya was alleged to have given in favour of Transatlantic D. Many people, either rightly or wrongly, saw the manipulative hands of the Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, behind the correspondences that were addressed to some members of Government, by the Chief of Special Military Staff of the President of the Republic, Brigadier General Amougou Emmanuel.
Inter –Ministerial Meeting Convened By PM, Counter The Allege ‘High Accord”.
Meanwhile, The Mentor News also observed that after the Chief of Special Military Staff of the President on January 26, 2026 addressed correspondences to some members of Government, saying that the President Biya had given his “High Accord” that SGS should leave the Douala Port, the Prime Minister and Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, chaired an inter-ministerial meeting on January 29, 2026, at the end of which the decision adopted on the crisis at the Douala Port, was a Government instruction to the General Manager of the Douala Port Authority, to immediately reinstate SGS Scanning Cameroun SA at the port, in respect of the contract that was signed between the Cameroon Government and SGS in 2015, and which is still in force .
Many observers were of the opinion that if Prime Minister Dion Ngute, convened an inter –ministerial meeting on January 29, 2026, which took a decision that tacitly countered what the Chief of Special Military Staff of the President , wrote three days earlier about the “High Accord “ of the President, then there was definitely something wrong with the said “High Accord”. It looked certain that the Prime Minister and some members of Government like Louis Paul Motaze, Minister of Finance, who is also the Coordinator of the ruling CPDM Party in President Biya’s Dja and Lobo Division in the South Region, had through their own networks, learnt that President Biya gave no “High Accord” that SGS , with which the Government signed a contract, should be pushed out of the Douala Port, when the contract was still in force.
More so, there are provisions in the agreement that the Government signed with SGS in 2015, which gives the Government the liberty to take a decision, if it so wishes, to terminate the contract before the end of the duration period. In the agreement, there are also conditions that the Government has to fulfill, if it decides to terminate the contract prematurely, or else, the SGS International will have the right to drag the Government or the country to an international court, for wrongly termination of contract.
PM Dion Ngute Would Certainly Not Have Convened The Inter –Ministerial Meeting, If – – –
Many observers hold that Prime Minister Dion Ngute would certainly not have convened the inter- ministerial meeting on January 29, 2026, which countered what the Chief of Special Military Staff of the President, wrote to some members of Government on January 26 about the “High Accord” of the President of the Republic, if he and the others got confirmation that the ‘High Accord” allegedly given by the President of the Republic, was genuine.
More so, since SGS Scanning Cameroun SA was reinstated at the Douala Port by the General Manager of PAD, Cyrus Ngo’o, on the instruction of the Prime Minister, nothing has been heard again about the “High Accord” of the President of the Republic, for SGS that signed an agreement with the Government, to be thrown out of the port, in favour of Transatlantic D. SA, which was illegally brought to the Douala Port to replace SGS, by a mafia group.
