"Come-No-Go" syndrome in the Public Service: Will Prime Minister Philemon Yang win the war?

Prime Minister Philemon Yang has told his cabinet ministers to flush out all senior civil servants who have retired and are refusing to leave office. The premier gave the directives reminding ministers to scrupulously respect the standing instruction of the President of the Republic requiring them to ensure that officials under their authority are allowed to claim their rights to retirement and actually release the service on time.

Many Secretary Generals, directors, deputy directors, division leaders, cell leaders and heads of service who officially retired from the public service have blatantly refused to leave their posts claiming to be waiting for their replacements to be appointed which can take forever. Although they no longer receive salaries from the Cameroonian public service, they have access to huge budgetary allocations that they manage it quietly.

Cameroon Concord understands that more than half of the Secretary Generals and Inspector Generals of ministries have reached the retirement age. Several of them have even been notified by a ministerial order from the Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reform. Others have obtained extensions which have also expired but refuse to effectively release the service. It is common to find in public offices, elderly and retired people who still hold office under the false pretext that he/she has been hired by the minister in charge.

However, one wonders if Prime Minister Yang Philemon will succeed this time around to resolve the thorny case of retirements. Following his appointment as prime minister in June 30th 2009, he set as priority the issue of retirement of senior officials who have reached the age limit. In October 2009, Philemon Yang ordered each department to initiate the procedure. Not much has been done.