Hereditary in CRTV at variance with Biya's policies.

To effectively exercise that visceral responsibility, the media, like the Holy Father in Rome who derives his power and authority from morale force, should be the mirror of transparency, justice, honesty and fair play. This is more so with media organs run the with taxpayers' money.

In a country like Cameroon where the media is being called upon to combat tribalism, nepotism, favouritism, corruption, God ‘fatherism’ and ‘man-know-man syndrome’, CRTV, the voice of the government, is looked up to be above board.

What however appears to be the unconventional norm is that the current CRTV management is practicing a genus of a crude brand of hereditary in employment, where staff who retire are being replaced, though at different levels, by their children.

Some who are still working and due retirement any time soon have already had their "successors" on the payroll of the state-owned corporation.

The inheritance trend is observed in the photographic and technical, through the journalism departments, raising eyebrows among anti-corruption advocates, critical staff and whistle blowers.

The Guardian Post has no axe to grind with whoever is employed in CRTV or any other government enterprise where the so-called policy of "national balance," enunciated by President Paul Biya, is supposed to be applicable. 

What we question for the interest of justice and equal opportunities for all Cameroonians, is the method of recruitment with a whiff of toxic.

Does transparency not require that as a state corporation, like in the civil service, recruitment should be subjected to a public examination and scrutiny?  

Have those vacancies in CRTV, created by retired staff, been advertised as required by government policy?  

Why does CRTV advertise its contracts and fail to do so with staff vacancies which could be perceived as opening the door for corrupt practices or favouritism?

The Guardian Post is not opposed to the children of ex-CRTV workers or those still serving to be employed by the corporation. We also do not question the qualification and competences of those who have been employed to replace their mothers, fathers or other retired relatives. 

What we are hammering on, for the good of the common interest, equal opportunities for all and justice, is the backdoor method used by CRTV management.

We are aware that over the years, the management of the corporation has been enmeshed in one shameful scandal or the other.

In March 2019, its former General Manager, Mendo Ze, of blessed memory and some of his acolytes were all sentenced for embezzlement of the corporation's fund. Some even fled out of the country to escape the sword of justice.

His successor, Ahmadou Vamoulke continues to languish in Kondengui Prison in Yaounde. He has described his

Vamoulke was replaced by Charles Pythagore Ndongo, on the verge of retirement by Presidential Decree No. 2016/272 of 29 June 2016, at a time the country was about switching to a digital television platform. 

An Anglophone, Emmanuel Wongibe, was appointed with him as Deputy General Manager.

Ndongo's management has, however, not been spared its own share of smoking gun scandals though not related to embezzlement or misappropriation. 

He has often been accused of sidelining journalists of the North West and South West origin in the distribution of top positions, despite their professional competence and clout.

There was the recent case where many media organs screamed that: "The General Manager of CRTV, Charles Ndongo, appointed 17 new Directors and no Anglophone was amongst them. In the appointment recently, Anglophones were relegated to news editing and other insignificant positions in the corporation".

But it would appear in the present scandal of recruitment by hereditary, both Anglophones and Francophones are quietly biting their own slice of the cake without grumbling. 

We at The Guardian Post dare say CRTV should not be turned into a monarchy, otherwise it will be nothing short of what serial author and philosopher, Thomas Paine, says is "inherently evil" and defeats President Paul Biya's policies of equity.