Camair-Co Gets New GM

 By Godlove BAINKONG, Cameroon Tribune, 23-06-2014
An extra-ordinary session of the air carrier designated Jean-Paul Nana Sandjo on June 20.
Power has once again changed hands at the helm of the national air company, Cameroon Airline Company, Camair-Co. A Presidential decree of Friday June 20, appoints Jean-Paul Nana Sandjo as the new General Manager of the company , replacing Frédéric Mbotto Edimo who has piloted the affairs of the company for about nine months given that he was appointed alongside the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Edouard Akame Mfoumou by a Presidential decree on September 11, 2013.

Transport Minister, Robert Nkili, delivered the government’s message overhauling the management of Camair-Co to the outfit’s Board of Governors on Friday June 20 during an extra-ordinary board meeting in Yaounde chaired by Edouard Akame Mfoumou. Minister Nkili told the press after delivering the message that based on the task ahead and the urgency with which to handle them, Jean-Paul Nana Sandjo will be installed on Wednesday June 25.

Others who have served as the company’s General Managers include Frenchman Gilbert Mitonneau and two Dutch, Alex Van Elk and Matthijs Boertin. That Jean-Paul Nana Sandjo is the fifth General Manager for Camair-Co since the company’s take off in 2006 and its inaugural flight in 2011 certainly speaks of daunting challenges for the new GM which may need more than his personality to surmount if the country’s loan air carrier must stand the tests of time. Plane seized in a foreign country, another grounded and flight programmes repeatedly perturbed are some of the thorny issues awaiting the new General Manager. Reacting on his appointment, Mr Nana Sandjo said focus will be on finalizing an economic and financial adjustment plan to get the air carrier on the rails.

What Experience?

Besides banking on his determination to succeed where others have failed, Jean-Paul Nana Sandjo, a Civil Aviation Engineer by training, hopes to combine exuberance and experience to lift the air carrier. Reports say he trained in Civil Aviation schools in Europe and America. Although he might not have been into the daily management of Camair-Co, he certainly knows the difficulties of the outfit by virtue of his being one of its board members. Reports say Jean-Paul Nana Sandjo has been in aircraft maintenance sector as well as in the drawing up of business plans for air carrier companies for some time. 

Until his appointment Friday, Jean-Paul Nana Sandjo was serving as the Mayor of Bazou Council in the West Region.