By Amos Muang Nash
It has been years of struggle for Samuel Chop, Board chair of the Copyright Society for Audiovisual and Photography (SCAAP) to put things in order so as to work for the interest of members. Despite the efforts put in, some self-centered individuals keep making things difficult by disrespecting hierarchy as a result retarding work.
A recent case in point is that of the Director General of SCAAP who at the beginning of June, 2022 proceeded in recruiting, transferring and installation of personnel in the different regions without the approval of the board chair in violation of articles 17 and 23 of the general regulations and article 25 paragraph 8 as well as article 27 paragraph K of the Status.
Reacting on the appointments, transfers and installations, Mr Chop said: “I inform the general public that these acts have been declared null and void”.
On the other hand the 1st vice President, Ousmanou has been parading himself as the board chair. In one of the installations of the illegal regional heads, he could be seen sitting as the SCAAP board chair.
Since the final installation of the General Manager and President of the Copyright Society for Audiovisual and Photography (SCAAP) on July 28th, 2020, the team that lost the elections has maintained an unbridled and impetuous appetite to seize by force or by crook the power they lost. This has hampered the capacity of the new management to serve the artists whose interests they have been mandated to protect.
However, what is more troubling is the outgone team’s militant intolerance towards diversity, a diversity that should be the pride of the outfit given the variegated backgrounds and provenances of the artistic community it represents. Their attitude shows a stark disregard for the slogan of “Living Together” in this blended family of a country. Against the backdrop of widespread ethnic divisions and the Anglophone cry of institutionalized marginalization threatening to snap apart the seams of the nation, one would expect SCAAP to be a beacon of hope for diversity.
*The Genesis*
Since the SCAAP executive elections were conducted in 2017, the seats of the President and General Manager became a bone of contention.
Mr. Chop Samuel, the then Board Chair of SCAAP have faced opposition from a team of six who have bluntly rejected his position as President for the simple reason that he is of the English-speaking community of Cameroon (Anglophone).
This opposing team includes Mr. Ousmanou, Mr. Djombe Mouangue, Mr. Cho Godlove, Mr. Jean Essala, Mr. Tabou Toche and Mr. David Njuofack. This team stormed the office and threw out Mr. Chop Samuel and then went on to terminate the engagement of all the Anglophone staff of the establishment.
For all the times they attempted to get the president and his team incriminated, they failed. According to court judgments and other official documents gathered, the court, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the SCAAP Board had ruled in Mr. Chop’s favor, declaring him legitimate winner with full rights as President of SCAAP.
This team took SCAAP to court demanding that the resolutions of the General Assembly should be cancelled. On January 17th, 2018, the court ruled in favor of SCAAP, thus legitimizing the election of Mr. Chop Samuel’s team by the SCAAP general assembly.
Hoping to please and give all a space in the company, “the president of the Audit Commission for collective Management bodies called both teams together for there to be peace in SCAAP,” Chop Samuel explained.
Despite offering the team two seats in the governing body – Seat of 1st Vice President given to Mr. Ousmanou and that of 3rd Vice President was offered to Mr. David Njuafack, they would still not give the President his merited position.
Little did Mr. Chop know that the compromise of peace that he had made was just a way by the Ousmanou camp
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