Government to muster CFA 56 billion arrears
The Minister of Economy and Finance says customers will be gradually reinstated.
The Cameroon Postal Service (CAMPOST) still owes its clients CFA 56 billion. The said sum was announced yesterday by the Minister of the Economy and Finance, Polycarpe Ahah Abah, at a press conference which followed the official handing over of the management of the parastatal to a Canadian technical entity, Tecsult International.
According to the terms of contract binding the government and Tecsult, the financial and postal departments of CAMPOST are expected to be effectively revamped within two years, giving priority to the payment of arrears owed clients and the rapid modernisation of the postal and affiliated services.
“It is an irreversible engagement to reorganise CAMPOST; the government has made the best choice by handing over the structure to an internationally reputable body. We expect Tecsult to put CAMPOST on the rail, taking into consideration the national reality”, Minister Abah Abah told the press. His declarations, however, generated a battery of questions from pressmen. The minister was asked what the government has done to reinstate the accounts of CAMPOST customers who have, for several years, had no access to their money, and why the government has decided to hand over the parastatal to a foreign entity after carrying out a nationwide campaign that brandished CAMPOST as a public trust. Minister Abah Abah said the government has already pumped in the sum of CFA 31 billion for the payment of arrears and many more strategies are being devised to reinforce the payment. He however said the arrears will be paid gradually, exacting no dates.
On the recent accord with Tecsult, the minister said the 2006 structural adjustment in CAMPOST, in which hundreds of workers were laid off and others posted back to their ministries of origin, was a giant stride towards a brighter future for the structure. He added that the provisional administrator, Charles Tawamba, who was appointed thereafter has accelerated the payment of arrears, contained enraged customers and instilled maximum discipline among workers. “We must, however, be courageous to admit that we are part of the global village where expertise count”, Mr Abah Abah went on. “Our postal sector suffered great losses, especially in the domain of digital technology. We can’t talk of efficiency while ignoring the services of experts; CAMPOST has not been privatised. We have hired expertise, and the contract can be annulled if the terms are not respected. And, to make sure that CAMPOST attains its objectives, we have put in place a follow-up committee to supervise the day-to-day management of the structure,” the minister concluded.
