Applicants Rush to Meet State Employment Deadlines

Offices of administrative authorities are jam-packed with candidates seeking to certify their documents.

Yaounde, it is about 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday October 22. Megual Moungoue and a friend are seen taking a cab for the junction around the governor's office. Each of them carrying brown envelopes containing several documents to be certified and stamped. Although Megual Moungoue left home as early as 5:00 a.m., he met a long line of candidates already waiting at the office of the SDO to have their documents stamped.

At about 12:00 noon, when Cameroon Tribune (CT) met Megual, he said "My waiting has been a very long one". CT met Megual relaxing on the veranda of one of the offices in the area as he explained how he had given some tips to "somebody" to facilitate the stamping of his documents. The premises of the SDO's office in Yaounde was jam packed with candidates compiling their documents for the direct recruitment of some 2,500 youths into the Public Service that was launched on October 2, 2013.

While others had to deal with a long queue to have their documents stamped, Anne Ngo Biyon and Lydia Tacho sat on a veranda waiting for their documents to be certified. Anne Ngo Biyou explained how she had been waiting since morning because she was told the official who had to certify documents was not on seat. For Jean Jacques Owona, another applicant, the certification of his documents went hitch-free since it was fast and he did not have much time to wait.

At the various offices where candidates had to deposit their files, the hustle and bustle continued as some of them barely had space to stand and wait for their documents to be collected. At the entrance of the Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reforms, hundreds of candidates could be seen struggling to deposit their files through different windows that have been created at the ministry's restaurant for the purpose. One of the authorities charged with collecting candidates files, Dieudonné Tjomb Mayag said no major problem had been encountered but for the fact that the crowd was huge and they needed to be prudent in verifying the files as well as registering them.

Dieudonné Tjomb also said that the bad weather has also made it difficult for them to satisfy everybody each day since candidates normally queue up outside and when it is rainy, they cannot wait outside but rather rush inside the restaurant which has little space. At the deposit centre, candidates are given a receipt after depositing their files. The receipt will be used as an acceptance slip on the day of the examination. Deadline for dropping files is November 15 for all the competitive examinations.