Cameroon abandons staff at Embassy in Italy

The staff are without salaries for several months, and their residence are uninhabitable because of their State of advanced dilapidation.

If embassies are the showcase of the country they represent, today, any Italian believes that Cameroon is a lame country. This is as a result of the fact that in 2012, the administrative officers of the Embassy of Cameroon in Rome in Italy are stranded in the Italian capital, because their salaries are more irregular and uncertain.

For the moment, administrative officers have not been paid for nearly four months at the expense of the image of Cameroon. If diplomatic and administrative staff experienced an improvement in their working conditions since they have been in temporary installations, this situation has been of short duration for the administrative personnel.

From 2012, there is an almost permanent uncertainty in the payment of wages. When asked, some employees say that their difficulties began as early as the appointment of Mr. Marcel Belinga as payer.

Everyone knows the strikes which had become the daily lot of the employees of this parastatal structure due to salaries, “the Cameroon Embassy in Rome is today threatened", notes an agent.

The problem is likely to jeopardize the functioning of the Embassy, as it is true these administrative officers do the bulk of the work. The questions addressed to the payer have often generated only arrogant responses that contribute to inflame the situation.

The Ambassador, Dominique Awono Essama, who arrived in 2009, has not inherited a comfortably installed diplomatic representation. Originally acquired by the Cameroonian State, infrastructures that support this Embassy have apparently not always benefited from the necessary maintenance. This lack of maintenance has gradually led to the total ruin of the building.

Complaints from residents and multiple interdepartmental missions as well as head to head in 2011 between Paul Biya and Ambassador did not change anything.