Workers of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) will soon receive their salary arrears before Christmas celebrations.
The CDC’s General Manager, Franklin Ngoni Njie, has assured. He was talking over CRTV Southwest on Thursday, December 19, 2024.
According to him, on July 10, the government signed an agreement. Through that, a big chunk of the CDC debt totalling about 91 billion FCFA was ceded to the government.
“This is 24 billion FCFA from the national social insurance fund. Prescribed debt is about 31 billion FCFA. Then, the personnel debt. The personnel debt covers the period from May 2018 up to 21 December 2022. Because that was the last audited account that we had. The government has the intention that disbursement should be made before this year runs out as much as possible before Christmas.” He said.
CDC Workers and Numerous Protests
Before the announcement, the CDC workers had been protesting. This year, the workers staged numerous protests.
Most of them were caused by the non-payment of salaries. It appeared the CDC had operated for years without paying its workers.
Probably with this new assurance, things might be different for them.
CDC severely affected by the crisis
CDC is one of the institutions severely hit by the ongoing conflict in Anglophone Cameroon.
Since the escalation of the crisis into an armed conflict in 2017, the CDC has recorded material and human losses.
Separatist fighters had regularly attacked the workers in the plantation. Some were killed while others had their hands chopped off. Aside from that, others were being kidnapped.
Owing to these attacks, some parts of its plantations were abandoned. That drastically reduced the output and revenue as well.
The CDC, which is a state parastatal, is the second-largest employer after the state. It produces bananas, rubber, and palm oil.
Because of a drop in revenue, the plantation could no longer pay its workers. That resulted in several strike actions.
