By Mboh Brian
A total of 3,442 civil servants under the Ministry of Secondary Education risk going without salary this February payout following the uncovering by the Ministry of Finance of a list of these civil servants who have abandoned their duty posts and travelled out of the country. According to the list that has been making rounds in the social media, the Ministry of Finance has stated the details of each of the civil servant including their departure time and from the different airports and their destination point and the duration in their host country. These state servants who have abdicated their duty posts have continuously ending salaries for no work done.
Finance authorities say salaries of such civil servants will be stopped beginning February 2026 payout.
The new measures we have been informed were taken following information that some have arranged with their Principals (paid) and Regional Delegates to ensure they fill forms of effective presence whereas they are out of the country. Authorities say, the process is going to continue until all civil servants who have escaped the country and receiving salaries are exposed and their salary suspended.
Some analysts have welcomed the initiative by government to put an end to those who have been milking the state. Some have blamed it on the governance system, qualifying it as sick.
The move has also been seen as regrettable because some of these state employees had secured huge loans in commercial banks and other microfinance institutions and many of them are going to suffer the consequences. It is also alleged that some of these financial institutions collaborate with some personnel in the ministry of finance to have the salaries of these runaway civil servants flowing so that they can recover their loans.
“So long as everything is centralised in Yaounde, we will continue like this. It is a complicated cobweb with a large network of people involved.
The Local Public Service that is incorporated in the Regional Council structures is yet to function after the Regional Councils have finished a first five-year mandate.
The intention behind this Local public Service is to enable the management and control of the careers of civil servants locally. But same Yaounde that is feeding fat from such a bad system is holding tight to it,” said an opinion leader.
“Some of us are even mocked by colleagues who have traveled abroad yet collecting salaries because even when some Principals denounce them, the next day someone in the ministry of Finance will re-instate the salary and you become a laughing stock,” said another pedagogue.
