10,375 supposed fictitious officials invited to clarify themselves

The Ministry of Civil Service and Administrative Reform has published a list of more than 10 000 public officials,supposedly fictional, to come and clear themselves.

"I was at the office working when a colleague called me to tell me that my name was on the list. I moved to the department to find out for myself because I could not believe it. Indeed, I was surprised when I saw my name when I'm always at work,” complained Abba an officer who was reached by telephone in Yaoundé by Cameroon-Info.Net

Like Abba, several other officers who were interviewed by the state television expressed reservations about their names in the controversial list. How then is it possible that officials who are present at their workplaces are confused with ghost employees?

"We extracted the records of the file which listed all those whose salaries are paid to the state budget every month. And Directors of Human Resources in each department have sent a list of all their staff. That is how we ended up with this first list of people who are not recognized in any administration,” said Chancel Ako Takem, in an interview with Cameroon Tribune.

In the same interview he reassured agents whose names may have ended up by mistake in the list. "We assume they are working somewhere and we have asked them to contact their main department to identify themselves to be sure that they are still in service."

An identification procedure that started from August 24 and will end on September 1, 2015, requires that the 10,375 mistaken agents must produce a certificate of attendance to prove that work with the various ministries. Otherwise, "their names would not be included in the new SIGIPES II implementation since they will not be transferred into it and then their pay will be suspended," warned Chancel Ako Takem.