The Crabs of Bangui

Chapter Twenty Eight

183 Chapter Twenty Eight S hortly after his memorable trip from Bangui with the company pickup truck, Hansel did several things concerning the upkeep of the company: he raised the question of an AGM (Annual General Meeting) at the earliest opportunity. They were six months away from the 12th of February, one year to the day he received or rather introduced his letter of employment. It was on that day that they held an AGM. There he presented to the Board the plan for a large area he had seen in Ngomgham which would be purchased. They took a drive to Ngomgham, just about five kilometres away. They would inspect and approve of the site. It was large enough to take a block of offices, machine plants and many other facilities. The Board would in due course, but before the AGM, visit the site again and make suggestions. The Chinese were ready to finance half of the 100 million project. It would be left to shareholders to work out modalities for fulfilling their own end of the bargain. But they would know that the more they invested, the higher their dividends. If the Chinese were allowed to set the plant up alone, they would gladly do it, he would tell them. But all the accruing profit would go into their pockets. The present office building was now for sale in readiness to move to Ngomgham, its permanent location. Fifty million francs or the best offer was the price of the office. The best offer could only come up to thirty-five. Hansel did not particularly care about that. The premises would be vacated sometime early in the new year. That should give them enough time to develop the new site in Ngomgham. 184 Linus T. Asong At the AGM there would be a report on the situation in Bangui, meaning that a delegation must have gone there and returned before the AGM. He summoned a Board Meeting at which he discussed the impending trip to Bangui and asked Mr. Limen Isidore to head a small committee that was to select those who would represent the group at Bangui. Finally, he succeeded in securing the services of the editor of THE VOICE, the most popular local newspaper, on his payroll, in his pocket, to be exact. He did not tell the man exactly what kind of business he was engaged in, and the man did not try too much to know. But he was told that every time he published something interesting for the company he had a bonus. The editor did his best. His best was not enough and Hansel had to write out the news items which were published. He did the same thing for the news announcer for the radio. Thus the company was given sufficient coverage, every week there was a major article on the company: CRABS AND SHELLS FETES BOSS, CRABS AND SHARES LOSES FOUNDING MEMBER, CRABS AND SHELLS SELECTS TEAM FOR BANGUI ETC. Hansel was kept constantly in the spotlight. Limen’s committee met and came up with a list of those they thought could represent them. They were ten in number. Before they went to bed the previous night, the selected members of the delegation were informed that the take off time would be at 10 o’clock from the CRABS AND SHELLS office. Hansel himself was up very early and by 7 o’clock he was already in the office feeding bits and pieces of information into his laptop and putting his files in order. By 9 0’clock when he looked out of the window he could see that everybody was present. There were also a good number of other members of the company who had braved the morning chill to see their delegated comrades off to Bangui. They stood conversing between the two vehicles 185 The Crabs of Bangui which they were to take along – Mr. Edmund Merengieh’s Pajero and Hansel’s SKIPPIO A1 which he had parked on the kerb. When they saw Hansel approaching they stopped talking and drifted slowly towards him for more news or instructions. The sun rose rather early and there was every promise that the day was going to be a hot one. But within the thirty minutes that they stood near the office, the sky darkened to the extent that motorists put on their sidelights. Thunder was heard faintly in the...