By Serge Aimé BIKOI
The two decrees signed by the President of the Republic on July 10, 2024, and relating, on the one hand, to the reorganization of the SNI and, on the other hand, the approval of its statutes, clearly have a strong resonance in the minds of economic specialists. This is all the more so since these reforms, which maintain the State of Cameroon as its sole and unique shareholder, thus changing this entity from the status of a public establishment to that of a public enterprise with its own legal personality. This is in accordance with the provisions of laws no. 2017/010 and no. 2017/011 of July 12, 2017 relating to the general status of public establishments and enterprises.
The good news is that the company that managed, until the signing of this new decree, a portfolio of 32 companies, including 24 in normal operation, six in cessation of activity, sees its powers strengthened. In accounting terms, for example, the Sni will now be subject to the regulations of the Ohada uniform act, which requires this category of entity, as is the case for private companies, to produce external audits by approved auditors. Among other new missions entrusted to the Sni headed by Yao Aissatou: the mobilization and orientation of financing with a view to promoting productive investment, particularly in the industrial, agricultural, mining, financial, commercial and service sectors. In this capacity, it is, in particular, responsible through its subsidiaries, for financing investments, venture capital and development capital operations. The new Sni is also in charge of carrying out stock market intermediation and asset management activities.
The bad news related to the reform of the SNI is that the decree of the Head of State establishes the dissolution of the technical commission for the rehabilitation of public and parapublic sector companies, the former technical commission for the liquidation and privatization of companies and the Office for the upgrading of companies. Concretely, the assets of these three structures are now transferred to the new SNI, which also recovers their skills. All this casts a shadow over the fate of the staff of the absorbed structures since the text signed by Paul Biya simply states that he will be the owner in the event of recruitment by the SNI. A hypothetical outcome that leaves more than 80 families in disarray who, overnight, find themselves without means of subsistence, on the eve of the next school year. Article 27, paragraph 2 of the text provides, in fact: “Subject to their technical and moral skills, non-civil servant personnel working in the structures referred to at the time of signing this decree shall have priority in the event of recruitment at the SNI. In other words, the personnel of the three structures absorbed by this company, created 50 years ago with a view to promoting investments in Cameroon, find themselves unemployed. A hard pill to swallow when we know that the country has been going through an unprecedented economic recession for the past two years.
The post Cameroon | Restructuring-Transformation of the SNI: An idea of the setbacks of the reform first appeared on Panorama papers.
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