When CPDM ministers squabble in public.

At the nexus is the choice for a law firm, billions in legal fees and a whopping 94 billion FCFA for an out-of-court settlement, following a suit filed at the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, ICC, in Paris, against the State of Cameroon.

The claimant is Sundance Resources, an Australian company with its Cameroonian subsidiary, Cam Iron.

The Australian company is claiming damages of $5.5 billion [about 3.4 trillion FCFA], for breach of contract related to the Mbalam-Nabeba Iron Ore project, which contract was awarded to it but it did not carry out the execution.

The job involved the building of a 500-km railway between Mbalam and Kribi, a mine, and a deep-water port terminal in Kribi.

Its negotiation to partner with China Gezhouba in 2015, Tidfore Heavy Equipment Group Ltd in 2018, and AustSino from 2018, all three Chinese companies, and financed the contract collapsed.

In what could be considered as backstabbing, one of the companies, AutSino, directly signed one of the components with the Cameroon government on June 25, 2021, to execute the railway portion of the project.     

Cameroon Mining Company Sarl, CMC, in association with Bestway Finance, won the exploitation permit for the Mbalam-Nabeba Iron Ore Deposit.

Left out of the deals, Sundance threatened court action, but then Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Gabriel Dodo Ndocke (now of blessed memory), is said to have proposed 94 billion FCFA as amicable settlement. 

There are reports that President Paul Biya, through Ngoh Ngoh, as observed in a correspondence that has been circulating on the social media, opted for a judicial resolution, which has not only been at the centre of a diatribe among his top aides, but also the choice of a legal firm to be paid a fee of 2,132,550 euros [about 1,390,000,000 FCFA]. 

The genesis of the squabble was a letter from Ngoh Ngoh, to the Ministry of Justice, asking to process the payment of the fees to Jeantet legal firm "for work done" in connection with Cameroon's defence.

The Minister Delegate Jean de Dieu Momo, acting on delegation from Minister Laurent Esso, who is reportedly ill and evacuated to Europe, fired back at Ngoh Ngoh, in a letter flashed in the social media. 

He explained that the Ministry of Justice was not involved in the choice of the firm or in the negotiations of its fees, and therefore would not be associated with the payment plan.

"I have the honour to inform you that the Minister of Justice is the Government's Counsel in judicial matters, including for cases of the nature of the one referred to in the subject. In this regard, the choice of the Counsel of Cameroon normally falls within its responsibilities,” Momo wrote.

"In this case, the encroachment on this jurisdiction of the Minister of Justice is not likely to maintain serenity in the Cameroon defense team in this case. In addition, the Minister of State, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, is the true recipient of the expense bill in the amount of 2,132,550 euros, or more than one billion three hundred and ninety million [1,390,000,000] FCFA, intended to cover the work already carried out by the Jeantet firm in this case. Therefore, the Minister of Justice cannot justify his signature on the Fee Agreement with the Jeantet firm, even less on the expense note accompanying the Agreement, when he was not involved in the choice of this Counsel, nor in the negotiations on the latter's fees with the person concerned," Momo wrote in his letter to the Secretary General at the Presidency. 

The reply provoked media headlines like: “Arm wrestling: Jean de Dieu Momo and Ferdinand Ngoh; Sundance Resources Case, Jean de Dieu Momo Says No to Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh". 

The strong man with the presidential signature delegated to him, in what one newspaper reported as a "violent attack" on Momo warned: "You will need to avoid taking any initiative in this matter in the future without the formal authorisation of the Presidency of the Republic".

In humble submission, Momo, an "opposition" outsider in the CPDM regime, caved in: "I acknowledge this and will comply with it." With those words, Jean de Dieu Momo threw in the towel. 

There are also reports that from his sick bed, Esso, who is alleged in various media reports to have cold working relations with Ngoh Ngoh, is reported to have supported Biya's decision for litigation but in opposition to the use of Jeantet legal firm.

Although media reports fanning the flames have not given the verdict in the war of words within the CPDM regime, The Guardian Post can write without fear of any contradiction, that the decision by Ngoh Ngoh will supersede all others.

But it won't be a victory for the regime, but an exposition of an in-house scandal that there is no collaboration and cooperation in the government, which is an indication that it needs a reshuffle as a divided team cannot stand the tides of an electoral storm.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3413 of Monday April 07, 2025