To absorb part of the debt of 181 billion owed to secondary school teachers, the finance law provides for a loan of CFAF 31 billion for fiscal year 2022 to be made available to the supervisory ministry.
For the year 2022, the finance law provides for a credit of CFAF 31 billion to be made available to the Ministry of Secondary Education for the clearance of part of the debt owed to teachers. This is one of the information given during the meeting, on January 4 in Yaoundé, of the ad hoc interministerial committee set up to examine the difficulties encountered by this professional body, relative to their career acts and their supports.
In the minutes of this meeting consulted by SBBC, it is indicated that the Ministry of Finance (Minfi), responsible for mobilizing this envelope, nevertheless disputes this figure. For Minfi, the state debt to teachers amounts to 121 billion FCFA instead.
But on the Minesec side, it is indeed 181 billion FCFA as of November 4, 2021. Amount supported by the National Executive Office of the Collective of Indignant Teachers of Cameroon (Ben-Ceic). For this union organization, the pot of 31 billion FCFA intended for reminders resulting from the 2022 finance law is “very insignificant”.
This discrepancy over the numbers does not end there. Indeed, in a report drawn up on December 10, Ben-Ceic recalls that 158,000 files are pending in the chapters of integrations (21,000), advancements 98,000), and other career acts (39,000) , for a cumulative amount of 152 billion FCFA.
In a letter from the Secretary-General of the Prime Minister’s Office convening the January 4 meeting, it referred instead to 148,704 cases pending payment to Minesec. In any event, Minesec informed the parties at the January 4 meeting that more than 41,000 grade advancement files and 2,401 grade advancements have been processed.
At the end of this meeting, it was decided that the Minfi should revise upwards the envelope set this year to settle the debt owed to teachers, that said envelope be stabilized and that a schedule for planning reminder payments be made.
