Cameroon Dismisses 1,172 Absentee Civil Servants

By Njong Shey   

Some 1,172 civil servants in Cameroon have been dismissed from the public civil service.

The dismissal was announced Monday, November 18, by the minister of public service and administrative reforms, Joseph Le.

This is part of an operation called Physical Counting of State Personnel (COPPE) by the government of Cameroon.

The essence is to fish out those who are unduly earning from the government coffers without any work done.

The 1,172 persons were noticed for absenteeism but kept receiving money from the state coffers. As such, the minister of finance launched a complaint to the ministry of public service about administrative reforms that were conducted and operated.

“These sanctions are taken in accordance with the provisions of Decree No. 94/199 of October 7, 1994, relating to the General Status of the State Public Service, amended and supplemented by Decree No. 2000/287 of October 12, 2000, and Decree No. 78/484 of November 9, 1978, establishing the common provisions applicable to state agents covered by the Labour Code.” Said Minister Joseph Le.

According to Minister Le, a complaint from the ministry of finance was against 8,766 public officials. So, the ministry summoned these officials, and of that number, only 601 responded to the requests for written explanations addressed to them and, for some, referred to the summonses of the Permanent Disciplinary Council of the Civil Service.

“At the end of the disciplinary procedures, rehabilitations were pronounced in favour of some and dismissals or revocations against others who, although having responded to the summons, pleaded false documents in order to mislead the administration,” he stated.

In recent years, there have been numerous complaints about the number of ghost workers in the Cameroonian public service. People take up jobs, abandon them, or travel abroad but keep benefiting from the state. Owing to those complaints, Cameroon President Paul Biya mandated the Prime Minister to look into the issue of chronic absenteeism of public officials. 

However, those dismissed of the 1,172 who think that they have been unfairly sanctioned may submit a petition to the Higher Council of the Civil Service.