This can come across as fiction when addressed in a Cameroonian environment. But this is a fact: Alain Noël Olivier Mekulu Mvondo Akame, Managing Director of the Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance Sociale (CNPS) makes his personal telephone number available to the public. A rare feat in Cameroon. And indeed, most of the senior personalities are almost all inaccessible. For an ordinary citizen, exchanging with an MD or some senior personality is exceptional. You have to go through an official service, negotiate an appointment, fill out a meeting request, before eventually meeting a top leader.

The taboo was broken with the arrival of Mr Mekulu Mvondo in 2008 at the head of CNPS. “Here are the personal details of the MD of CNPS Tel: 237 675 39 67 66; email: Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.”, one can read on the Facebook page of the secular arm of the Cameroonian State in terms of social coverage.

The information is also posted at the entrance of the headquarters of this public administration service, in Yaoundé. Interviewed on this new type of management, Mr Mekulu Mvondo replies: “CNPS is a glasshouse. We have nothing to hide. The MD is at the service of the population and not the contrary. If a contributor has a preoccupation with regards to a case in our services, or a difficulty in a professional capacity, he can text me and it will be my duty to reply”.

S.A