Authorities decry high numbers of foreign workers in CMR

According to a release by the Cameroonian government’s cabinet meeting held on October 30, 2014 in Yaoundé, the country’s capital, “with the implementation of major infrastructural projects and the launch of a third mobile telephone service, the job market has witnessed an influx of foreign workers, often employed in violation to applicable laws and regulations.”

Here, there is a clear allusion to the massive importation of Chinese companies which is currently carrying out the majority of the major infrastructural projects in Cameroon as well as Viettel Cameroon which has had the 3rd mobile phone licence since September 2014. The Vietnamese mobile service provider, which operates under the Nexttel brand, has always been accused by Cameroonian managers of bringing in Vietnamese labour despite promises made to the government to create 6,300 local jobs.

To address this, the Minister of Employment, Zacharie Pérevet , during his presentation on “the regulation of foreign labour in companies operating in Cameroon” noted that “the government has taken steps to inform employers about this activity which goes against the employment of Cameroonian workers.” He added that this effort is to be accompanied by “systematic monitoring measures.”

On December 31, Minister Pérevet revealed that only 1,410 foreign workers have legitimate contracts with a work visa as required under the law. This figure is far below the actual number of Chinese workers flooding the nation’s major public works projects.