Public service: Presidency encourages sit-tight retirees

Despite an earlier decision that Government was sending all civil servants who are due retirement away from the public service, the Presidency of the Republic, has continued to prolong the stay of some retirees.

The latest in the list of such a controversial decision, The Post learnt, is a long period of grace the presidency has granted some administrative officials who were already due retirement. The text, signed by the President of the Republic, prolongs the careers of some Senior Divisional Officers, SDOs, who are due retirement since two years ago.

According to sources in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, the SDO for Mfoundi Division, Jean-Claude Tsila, who reached retirement age a few years back, is one of the beneficiaries.

The Post learnt the SDO of Kadey Division of the East Region, the SDO of Mefou and Akono Division of the Centre Region, the SDO of the Dja and Lobo Division and ocean Division in the South Region.

The herald for such prolongation was observed when the President of the Republic still appointed the retiree SDOs last April. Before the appointments, the press was awash with speculations that, in an attempt to inject new blood into the administration, the President was going to make a clean sweep of administrative officials who were due retirement. They were wrong,because, a majority of the retirees were maintained.

Going by our sources, the Presidential decree sent close to 40 administrative officials on retirement. Of late, the President of the Republic has been using his prerogative to prolong the careers of some people who have attained retirement age.The Post also learnt that the public service is still replete with people who have refused to go on retirement.

Theprolongation of the careers of retirees in the public service runs counter to a circular the Prime Minister, Philemon Yang, addressed to members of Government last year.The circular calls on Ministers to identify and flush out people who are due retirement from their respective ministries. The Prime Minister regrets in the circular that the rules governing the retirement of civil servants are no longer systematically respected in some administrations.

The Prime Minister remarks that such a situation is a flagrant violation of the functioning rules and principles of the management of human resources of the State. According to the Head of Government, the continuous presence of retired persons in the different administration poses a judicial risk as far as the acts they commit there are concerned. He said their cohabitation with state agents in regular situations could be a source of tension.

The Prime Minister issued the circular at a time that the civil service is said to be bloated, not only with retirees, but also with ghost workers that swell the Stage wage bill.

For one thing, Cameroon’s corruption-ridden public service has caused many civil servants to see retirement as death sentence. Obtaining retirement benefits is a very complicated issue, despite Government’s efforts to simplify the process.

“I do not understand this system. I have worked as a civil servant for over 30 years. Nowthat I have gone on retirement they are asking me to file in many documents as if the Government that I worked for no longer knows me,” one retired civil servant told The Post.

Many retired civil servants die without getting their dues because of the corrupt and bureaucratic system in place.The case of one Jonathan Tamngwa, a technician who retired from Radio Bamenda was so pathetic.He struggled in vain for many years and died without collecting a dime from his retirement benefits.

Such an unhealthy system has caused many people to believe that “the fear of retirement for every civil servant in Cameroon is the beginning of wisdom”. Small wonder, that many people who are due retirement are scheming and lobbying for their careers to be extended.