Gov’t taking over ownership of ENEO: Good news but what will change? .

The electricity sector has stood out as an example of the IMF failed policies, often likened to a doctor who prescribes the same drug for all patients.

Following persistent blackouts, low current and electricity outage constantly experienced throughout the country, the State of Cameroon has paid 78 billion FCFA to the British firm, ACTIS, to take over its shares in the Energy of Cameroon, ENEO, which is 95 percent of the capital. 

The acquisition of the UK company’s shares, which earlier bought it from the American AES-SONEL after SONEL was privatized, has been commended as an act of "energy sovereignty."

Speaking to reporters after the signing of the sales agreement, the Minister of Water Resources and Energy, Gaston Eloundou Essomba, stated that: “This signing marks the effective resumption of control of ENEO by the State of Cameroon. It is an essential step to undertake the urgent reforms necessary for the stabilisation of the electricity sector. This is a major decision to bring order to the electricity sector and launch a thorough restructuring".

He explained that a clear diagnosis of electricity problem is the financial imbalance and reiterated unequivocally.

"The sector is weakened by a profound financial imbalance, which is the root cause of payment delays to producers (Nachtigal, Kribi, Memve’ele), tensions with SONATREL, and persistent operational difficulties,” he added. 

The minister noted that "to sustainably revive the sector, a priority plan is already underway. This includes refinancing ENEO's debt. This aims to improve cash flow and stabilize payments".

He said further that: "Everyone must pay their bill, including public entities". With the second energy corridor to Douala, an additional 150 MW of demand is projected for 2026 (approximately 50 billion FCFA in additional revenue).

SONEL was privatised with the promise that it will improve services and offer affordable electricity. It has since then switched from AES-SONEL to ENEO and instead of amelioration, the electricity problems continue to aggravate, with falling poles, clustered cables that have ignited markets fires, mounting debts, fraud and even protests from consumers who have lived in blackouts for over eight months like the case observed   in Mutengene, South West Region last week, which is not an isolated incident.

It is nonetheless good news that the State of Cameroon has taken over the corporation, like it did with the Cameroon Development Corporation in January 2016, becoming the sole shareholder of the agro-industrial enterprise.

Since then, the corporation has been in debts, with staff owed over two years of wages, which became a campaign issue at the October 12 presidential election. 

Ironically, the debts owed CDC workers, whose numbers have shrunk from when the government fully took over, have not been cleared, despite campaign propaganda of paying them.

If the government has not been able to pay workers of the corporation as and when due, what is the assurance that it will better manage the electricity corporation where reputed British and United States firms in the sector have failed?

Minister Gaston Eloundou Essomba, whose ministry supervises the electricity sector, is not alien to the task ahead.

To ameliorate the situation, Yaounde must combat fraud, which according to him, accounts for "nearly 15% of the system, or 60 billion FCFA per year. Government is undertaking the widespread installation of meters, standardisation of connections, and strengthening controls".

The takeover of ENEO promises to pave the way for profound modernisation, the securing of investments, and a sustainable improvement in the quality of the public electricity service.

SONEL was privatised, in the first place two decades ago, because the Bretton Woods institutions said the regime was a bad business manager. Yes, they were right in that respect.    

Cameroon has bought it back. That's all well and good, but have the bad business managers in government changed? Were the SONEL and other State-owned companies not making profits in the CNU era?

Will a company that should have employed 100 people and ended up with some 150: cousins, nieces, children, brothers, sisters, uncles, girlfriends, friends etc., as employees, with no job description, survive without State subsidies?

The company, which should have been profitable, has turned taxpayers into milking cows without providing the needed services at an affordable price.

Now that the government is commendably rejecting the IMF/World Bank conditionalities of privatisation, The Guardian Post hopes it will employ competent managers from the private sector, not civil servants, to manage the electricity sector, whose performance, for good or bad, cannot be concealed.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3632 of Friday November 21, 2025