By Eratus Ndueh
In his end-of-year message broadcast on December 31, 2023, President Paul Biya announced that the government would reduce the FCFA 640 billion fuel subsidy, meaning that the upcoming months will be hard for Cameroonians, especially businesses.
By February 2024 the price for a litre of fuel at the pump shall be 860 FCFA instead of 730 – this means an increment of 130FCFA. This situation will lead to more economic hardship.
Recently, Azur S.A. announced that they will place part of its employees on technical unemployment starting Monday, January 8, 2024.
Azur S.A. is a palm oil-based agri-food production company that produces soap, margarine, and vegetable oils. Its products are on sale in Cameroon and other countries in Central Africa.
According to an official statement from the company, the economic situation rocking Cameroon at the moment has pushed the company to drastically reduce its activities. The technical unemployment shall last for six months, but there was no clarification on h
ow many employees would be affected and if they would resume work after the said six months.
For the staff concerned, the company reinitiated that they will be paid as specified according to Cameroonian law setting the compensation rates during the period of suspension of technical unemployment, the salary will take into account the basic salary increased by the seniority bonus.
Azur has set the ball rolling, pundits expect more hardship and similar scenarios in other institutions. With the gradual reduction of fuel subsidies, experts say by 2025, Cameroon will completely remove fuel subsidies due to pressure from the IMF, thereby plunging the country into more economic hardship.
Source: Cameroon News Agency
Health care workers in Homa Bay have threatened to down their tools if the County Government fails to solve issues that affect them.
They have decried the fact that despite tabling their grievances to their employer, nothing has been done and have therefore given a 7-day ultimatum before they go on strike.
Grievances which they demanded to be resolved include salary delays, non-confirmation of employment, withdrawal of some members from the payroll without notice and stagnation among other pertinent issues.
The healthcare workers and union officials are drawn from different cadres within the county health department including the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN), Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO), Kenya Union of Nutritionists and Dieticians (KUND), Kenya National Union for Medical Laboratory Officers (KNULO), Union of Health Records and Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) representing doctors.
Speaking on Saturday, the unionists said that some health care workers
were withdrawn from the payroll last year August without prior notice and have not been reinstated back into the system.
Led by KNUN branch Secretary Emerdick Otieno, they also pointed out that some of them have stagnated in one job group for almost 10 years.
‘The county government deemed it fit to remove them from the payroll and notify them one month after. In fact, the notice stopping their salaries came in August which is against labor laws,’ he said and demanded for their immediate reinstatement.
The KNUN Secretary added that the county should further clear the arrears for the months the employees went without their salaries.
He also lamented stagnation in one job group which he claimed is demoralizing them in dispensing their duties.
Otieno urged the County Government to promote healthcare workers who have stagnated in one job group for over three years, in accordance with Human Resource guidelines.
‘We want to tell the county government that promotion is a motivational factor and hence we want ou
r members to be promoted as they deserve,’ said Otieno.
On the other hand, KMPDU County Liaison Officer Dr Ochieng Otana expressed the union’s dissatisfaction with the way Human Resource issues are handled within the health department citing chronic salary delays.
‘Some members were employed by the county for some time now but have not been confirmed yet. They have not been issued with letters of confirmation which means there are some benefits that they are missing out on,’ he said.
Otana said the issues raised affect not only their morale but service delivery and called for a satisfactory resolution soonest.
The issues we have raised require urgent intervention by the county government. If we do not get a satisfactory resolution then we are going to call on our members to down their tools until such a time when our demands are met,’ he said.
Source: Kenya News Agency