CI-NEWS

Buea mayor suspends payment of illegal allowance to workers!

2020-05-07

No: 494

Buea mayor suspends payment of illegal allowance to workers!

By Christopher Ambe.

The Mayor of Buea, David Mafani Namange, has suspended the payment of what he terms illegal duty allowance to many council workers and published a list of regularly employed workers, causing fear among those whose names have not featured on it that they will be sent away.

But in a telephone interview with this reporter on Saturday, the mayor said, “Nobody has been laid off. We simply did a staff audit, which will be followed by a financial audit to put order in the council.

“We realized that some people have not come to their job place for more than a year but earning salaries. For example, we realized that a worker on retirement was still on the payroll and a worker who had joined the military was still on the payroll.”

The affected duty allowance earners are chiefs of service and chiefs of bureau, who had been unduly earning the money monthly, for several years, under the leadership of his predecessors.“You find some 25 people earning allowances as chiefs of service whereas you don’t find those services in existence in the organizational chart. Same case with many chiefs of bureau not found on the organizational chart”

A chief of service had an extra 25,000 francs CFA and a chief of bureau had 10,000 francs CFA added to their monthly salaries.

The suspension of the duty allowance took effect as from April 30, the day the mayor made public his decision in a note of service.

“Considering that the allowances which you were illegally benefitting as chiefs of service as part of your salaries [are] unjustified, you are hereby informed that the sum of 25000 francs FCFA which you were benefitting as duty allowance has been withdrawn”, read part of the mayor’s note of service.

The note of service had many names of chiefs of service and names of chiefs of bureau affected and thus relieved as chiefs.

Conscious that the suspension of the allowance and scrapping of fictitious chief of service status would anger the affected, the mayor extended his sympathy to them.

“We regret the inconveniences this [decision] must have caused you,” he wrote in the note of service.

One of the affected chiefs of service, in a chat with this reporter, blamed the Mayor for being in a rush to do away with what has been in existence for years. “He may be doing the right thing but he should have served for at least six months in that capacity before taking such a decision,” said the chief of service.

But a well-placed council official, supportive of the mayor’s decision, stressed that Mafani is “a careful jurist and only takes actions that he knows are legally correct.”

The official thought that Buea council was even overstaffed with over 300 workers compared to Tiko Council with similar budget, which he said, has about 100 workers. He added that the total workers of Limbe 1, 2 & 3 councils are less than the number Buea Council has.

It should be recalled that Mafani assumed office as mayor when the Buea Council owed salaries of workers for four months; but as at now workers have gone for six months without salaries.

Concerning unpaid salaries, the mayor told this reporter: “We are working hard to pay the salary arrears. Everything being equal, next week they will receive part payment.”

He strongly appealed to council workers to be more productive so that the council would always generate the necessary revenue to pay them on time.

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Buea mayor suspends payment of illegal allowance to workers!