Le Chairman Kishore Beegoo prend le relais du CEO Charles Cartier : « We are in desperate need of cash injection as equity, not loans »
À peine installé en tant que Chairman de la compagnie aérienne nationale, Air Mauritius, que Kishore Beegoo tire la sonnette d’alarme sur l’état financier de ce qui fut le fleuron de l’économie mauricienne. C’est ce qui ressort d’une communication en date de mercredi adressée aux membres du personnel de la compagnie aérienne. Ses observations rejoignent celles du Chief Executive Officer en partance aux yeux de l’Hôtel du Gouvernement, Charles Cartier, qui avait brandi le risque potentiel d’un retour sous administration de la compagnie aérienne nationale l’année dernière dans une tentative de contrer les demandes des différents syndicats des employés de la compagnie. Ainsi, la description du nouveau Chairman de la situation prévalant au Head Office est des plus emblématiques dans la mesure où il n’hésite pas à souligner que « if somebody would survey the number of walls and doors of the offices in the building, we would probably have the biggest castle in Africa. » Il prend la peine d’ajouter dans cette missive que « I am not using a metaphor but in the true sense of the word. »
Toutefois, indépendamment des relations parmi les membres du personnel, le problème le plus grave aux yeux de Kishore Beegoo demeure l’état des finances d’Air Mauritius. Sans avancer de chiffres, il fait comprendre aux employés aussi bien qu’aux autres Stakeholders que « l’heure est très grave, voire bien grave même. »
« I have been having numerous meetings to understand the financial situation of the Company, unravel the ownership structure, convince our shareholders to support us and it has all been more than a fiery hectic start. When one of Mauritius’s biggest and vital enterprise has not yet had its financial statement for the year ended March 2024 signed by its auditors, it must already ring alarm bells », affirme-t-il.
Kishore Beegoo justifie sa démarche de ne pas mettre de chiffres à l’avant car « the figures cannot be released until we have the audited ones, but at first sight, they are extremely alarming. We are in desperate need of cash injection as equity, not loans. » Il poursuit, confirmant que depuis trois semaines déjà, « I and a team working with me have spent our time to secure financial support for the Company so that we start on a good footing and a strong balance sheet. Hopefully, we shall be able to breathe soon. »
Entre-temps, le Chairman d’Air Mauritius laisse voir que le Management sera appelé à entériner « some urgent major decisions which are required to positively impact our next BOP and the future. » Il dit sa détermination de pouvoir faire redécoller la compagnie de manière durable et soutenable. « We cannot continue to work as a legacy airline continually demanding State financial support. Asking the Government for cash means we are taking the Mauritian public money. We must make sure that public money does not continue to go in a black hole. Together, we must garner energy, enthusiasm, willingness, drive and defend with as much firepower we can muster, so that we become part of a viable airline and to be viable, we must be profitable », maintient-il.
Par ailleurs, Kishore Beegoo ne passe pas par quatre chemins pour décrire l’état des relations sur le front du personnel, arrivant à la conclusion que « some of us have lost the sense of appartenance to a family and the drive is not to fight for the Company but for oneself, protecting one’s boundaries from intrusion by our internal and external customers. »
Ou encore que « everyone has carved a corner sitting on a throne with so many corridors, walls and doors that reaching him or her is a parcours du combattant. Yet, we are supposed to be in a highly competitive Customer-focused, agile industry requiring exchanging ideas & moving at lightning speed. To visualize what I am saying, take 326 passengers sitting in one of our A350 aircraft and 326 staff in the Air Mauritius Head Office with plus 2 000 square metres of walls. »
Kishore Beegoo parvient à la déduction que cette frustration ayant envahi la compagnie aérienne demeure la somme totale d’une politique de protection des tikopin à grande échelle pratiquée jusqu’ici et promet de redresser la barre. « We have been doing the wrong things right. I understand the frustration some of you have when you find people with less capabilities than you have been parachuted over your heads with such salaries and solid contracts that must make the beneficiaries themselves ashamed. We shall be tackling them as soon as time permits », indique-t-il dans la conjoncture.
Sur un plan plus personnel, le nouveau Chairman, qui n’a à aucun moment fait la moindre allusion au Chief Executive Officer (CEO) en place ou au CEO-Designate, est revenu sur ses précédents passages au Board d’Air Mauritius, en tant qu’Executive Director, soit en 2001 et en 2005. Il revient sur l’épisode de Cargotech où il est en poste en tant que Managing Director.
« In 2015, I was politically targeted to be killed financially/mentally/ reputationally with the press splashing an alleged scam of Rs 320 million through my company Cargotech with a rapport bidon fuelled by some of our own staff. It is good for you to know that I was never called by the Police even though I offered to go to the Casernes Centrales. I took the matter legally before the Arbitration Tribunal where Air Mauritius offered and agreed by me, for a settlement. An agreement was signed in October 2018 », indique-t-il.
Kishore Beegoo rassure que pour l’actuel mandant en tant que Chairman de la compagnie aérienne, il a pris la décision de se retirer des délibérations « when there could be a perception of conflict of interest. Furthermore, I have asked the Company Secretary to ask me to withdraw from sessions in meetings he feels such perception may arise. This is exactly as required by the laws of the country. »
En conclusion, le Chairman annonce un Post Mortem sur les causes du déclin de la compagnie aérienne en faisant comprendre que « history must be looked into to understand how, why and what brought this Company to its knees which is impacting the employees, families, customers, shareholders, and the Mauritian public at large. Each major past decision will be investigated so that we understand why such decisions were taken and their impact on our future. »
Enfin, une note de Warning en guise de flèche du Parthe : « I hope that I have been able to impart some of my thoughts and how the Board under my Chairmanship, Management and employees intend to work together in cohesion as a family. Those who will not fit in or not work towards the common goal for the good of the whole Air Mauritius family will have no place in the organisation. »