Gov’t offers Christmas bonanza to CDC workers!.

In a bid to bail out the ailing Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, from financial doldrums, the government, we gathered, has disbursed the colossal sum of 20 billion FCFA; to partially settle salary arrears of the corporation’s workers.

The sum of money is to settle the CDC workers’ salary arrears from 2018 to 2022. 



Meanwhile, the government has also opted to pay 30 billion FCFA outstanding National Social Insurance Fund, CNPS, dues of CDC workers and 49 billion FCFA accrued taxes of the State-owned agro-industrial company.

While the 20 billion FCFA is said to have been disbursed, another 15 billion FCFA, we learned from credible sources within the Ministry of Finance, will be disbursed early next year to settle the balance of salary arrears of CDC workers. 

The aforementioned, we gathered, is thanks to the dexterous and prompt execution of the Head of State’s instructions by the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze.

Our sources also hinted that the Head of State, President Paul Biya, had instructed that CDC workers should not be laid off because of the crisis affecting the corporation. 

The disbarment of 20 billion FCFA to partially settle the CDC workers’ salary is the fruits of negotiations between the Ministry of Finance, a commercial bank selected for the operation, CNPS, CDC and the signing of relevant agreements.

It should be recalled that in August 2023, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of CDC, had, in Resolution No. 1203, set up a Working Group on CDC’s Indebtedness Situation. It had as overall objective to propose a plan of action to redress the financial situation of CDC. The measures that the Working Group was to propose were aimed primarily at “cleaning up CDC’s debts and stabilising the workforce to ensure that CDC’s status is restored and sustained”.

It also had the objective to come out with proposals for concrete, urgent and relevant measures for the settlement of the fiscal and salary debt as well as the social contributions, with a view to rehabilitating the liabilities of the CDC and its return to the path of growth, productivity and its contribution to the process of stabilisation and pacification of the North West and South West Regions.

The Working Group held its sessions and proposed a report with its proposals, which was tabled at the level of the government. After studying the report, the government has thus speeded up measures for the debts of the state-owned corporation to be cleared and its workers’ salary arrears paid.

In a correspondence to the Minister of Finance titled “Urgent measures to deal with the social debts of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC)”, a copy of which The Guardian Post has seen, the President of the Working Group/Administrator of MINFI-CDC, Fai Yengo Emmanuel, had proposed measures, which he said, would paved the way for the process of clearing the debts of the CDC.

It thus thanks to his proposals that government, through the Ministry of Finance, has taken steps to bail the CDC from its financial woes.

In the correspondence, Fai Yengo Emmanuel noted that the Working Group’s proposals would make it possible for government to consolidate the liabilities of the CDC; comprising the wage debt (35.75 billion FCFA), the debt to the CNPS (28.1 billion FCFA) and the tax debt (31.8 billion FCFA), which totals 92.95 billion FCFA.

“This unprecedented situation has a serious impact on CDC's prospects of resuming normal activity, given the dry losses incurred by the said structure as a result of the socio-political crisis in the South West Regions where it is based. The Working Group, after wide-ranging consultations, is therefore suggesting measures to your High Attention that could enable this public company to return to growth and performance,” Fai Yengo Emmanuel noted in the correspondence.

“For the employee debt, which amounts to FCFA 35.75 billion, the State could envisage taking over the said debt, through a tripartite operation of assignment of receivables in two annual tranches (2024 and 2025). This operation would involve the State of Cameroon, a commercial bank as assignee, and CDC employees…,” he added.

He also noted that with regards to the CNPS debt, estimated at 25.4 billion FCFA, the Working Group is suggesting a debt agreement between the State and CNPS and a debt repayment process, over a period of seven years, including two years of grace, at zero interest rate.

Fai Yengo Emmanuel’s correspondence continued that: “As regards the consolidated tax debt of 31.8 billion FCFA, as at December 31, 2023, consideration could be given to converting this debt into CDC equity. This operation will require budgetary cover for the tax administration (Directorate General of Taxation) to clear the debt”.

He also recalled that the Minister of Finance had given instructions to this effect in correspondence No. 0000260/MINFI/DGI/DGE/RIDGE/FP1 dated March 4, 2024.

“The implementation of these proposed measures could have a historic impact in terms of the willingness of the highest authorities in the Republic to speed up the process of bringing peace to the economically devastated North West and South West Regions,” he had averred, adding that: “these measures would also enable a climate of trust to be restored in the said Regions”. 

He noted that the settlement of the debt owed nearly 20,000 CDC employees, would send a strong signal in the process of rebuilding the North West and South West Regions.

 

Urgent proposals proffered 

In a bid to enable a thawing of the frosty situation of the CDC, Fai Yengo Emmanuel, in his correspondence to the Minister of Finance, had also advised on the authorisation of urgent implementation of some “activities,” including “the urgent opening of negotiations between the Ministry of Finance, the Commercial Bank selected for the operation, the National Social Insurance Fund and the Cameroon Development Corporation, with a view to signing the relevant draft agreements”.

Others include: “The solicitation of the Very High Agreement of the Head of State, for the implementation of these proposals; the timely visit of the Minister of Finance to the South West and North West Regions, in the company of the local elite and administrative authorities, in order to officially launch the operations for the payment of salary arrears to CDC staff; and the setting up of a Multidisciplinary Inter-ministerial Team to oversee the implementation of the operation”.

 

CDC Board Chair hails move

Following the recent development, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of CDC, Hope Sona Ebai, has hailed the move, noting that the decision by the government to bail out the corporation is because of its strategic nature.

I think the strategic nature of the CDC has a lot to do with the decision of the government to remedy this debt situation by taking off this outstanding debt into the national debt basket and to look for appropriate solutions,” he said. 

“The CDC is present in the South West, North West, part of the Littoral and we know that the North West and the South West Regions have been going through socio-economic and socio-political problems for a while. The two crisis-hit Regions were granted Special Status, after the Major National Dialogue of 2019, so something had to be done to rescue the CDC,” Ebai added.

He stated further that: “It is not just the fact that the CDC is the second highest employer after the government, but the culture, history of the CDC and the fact that the corporation should be a major contributing factor or enterprise to the government in terms of production and processing its foreign currency accumulation and more. The government is thus looking for the best and timely solution of the problems CDC is facing”. 

“The timely proffering of the solution means the government is up and running. I can say that we are very lucky that despite these difficulties, in other countries, CDC would have been taken off the government’s portfolio, but the government of Cameroon thought that despite the problem, the CDC means a lot to the State and thus an adequate solution should be sought,” he said.

 

Gov’t not relenting in its efforts 

Hope Sona Ebai added that even before now, the government had been looking for ways to help the CDC out of doldrums. 

“We had a performance contract signed in August 2022, where the government provided CDC close to 3 billion FCFA, for the corporation to acquire some light machines and trucks to improve on evacuation of produce. It permitted the CDC to also reduce cost of production and to make the corporation more competitive. That was a three-year performance contract that was signed by myself on behalf of CDC and the board and the Minister of Finance, Minister of the Economy Planning and Regional Development and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,” he disclosed.

The CDC Board Chairman added that: “So, we have been looking for ways and means, but in my opinion, this is the big package that the government has actually offered the CDC. For those who know the situation we are in today, everything is a priority and for the government to have prioritised CDC among priorities, it really speaks eloquently of government’s vision to keep this big industry running”.

He recalled that the Working Group that was put in place by the CDC Board of Directors comprised representatives of the Board, including the General Manager; the Prime Minister, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of the Economic, Planning and Regional Development, CNPS and representative of the technical commission for the rehabilitation of State enterprises. 

“We are very happy to say that the work of the Working Group has been very positive and conclusive to the point where the government agreed to take off some of these outstanding debts to the national debt basket. We will be able to look for liquidity to be able to implement, especially the payment of arrears to workers that has been weighing highly on our local economy and our corporation,” Ebai said.

 

Board chair prescribes rigour, efficiency 

Hope Sone Ebai went ahead to send a message of rigour and efficiency to CDC management and the corporation’s workers.

“Generally speaking, in an agro-industrial unit, if you leave off what you produce for a while, environmental factors step in. These environmental factors have affected CDC. Management has to device means to adapt to what is going on,” he said. 

“This may mean a more efficient and productive way of managing the enterprise. It may also be from what workers have lived and they understand that their performance needs to really improve for the CDC to be able to make the type of money that is needed for everybody to receive a salary at the end of the month,” Ebai added.

He continued that: “It means that our whole structure, upstream and downstream needs to be modernised. We need planting materials that are available in the world today, which permit us to produce even twice as much on half the surface area. We also need to use the surface area liberated for other endeavours that are money-making for the corporation”.

“We have to have a land use strategy in the CDC that makes everybody including the corporation happy. When we talk about upstream planting, rehabilitation, replanting, plant diversification, downstream, we see that our factories are really old and I have the feeling that we are spending a lot of money on spare parts rather than going for new technologies that have a different aspect on environment today,” he stated. 

 

CDC GM reveals agreement already signed, disbursement underway

Also speaking to the press on Monday December 16, the General Manager of CDC, Franklin Ngoni Njie, was all praises for the government in its efforts to rescue the CDC.

Njie said because “the most important thing for the CDC workers is when the money is talking in their pockets, the management of the corporation on Friday December 13, went through all the hurdles and the agreement got to the table of the Minister of Finance”.

He added that on that same day, the agreement was signed and the CDC collected the signed agreement to engage the registration procedure, which has been done fully.

The CDC General Manager told the press that what was remaining (as at Monday December 16) to be done was the instruction for actual disbursement, which, we gathered from credible sources at the time of going to press, had already been done. 

He disclosed that as at now there are three principal stakeholders; CDC, the bank and government.

“Government, which I think is the most strategic of all the stakeholders, has the intention that disbursement be made before this year runs out. As much as possible before Christmas,” he had said. 

“To this effect, that is why I said the instruction letter from the Minister of Finance has already been signed. That instruction letter is addressed to the Autonomous Sinking Fund that will issue a letter to Bank Atlantique Cameroon and this is the letter that will engage the disbursement proper. So by our estimation, by this time next week disbursement should happen,” he disclosed. 

 

Recovery of CDC focused on plantations

Talking about the future of the corporation, Franklin Njie said recovery, sustainability and future of CDC is focused on the plantations. 

“No matter the input that will come from government, if this key aspect is not considered in the right dimension of its weight, we will miss the track. Let me reiterate that government came in to take this exceptional action because of the conviction that other measures are stalling because of the absence of motivation from the CDC workers,” he said. 

He added that: “…this means even the government knows that the future or recovery of the CDC is in the plantations, the mills and the factories. That is why even before these actions, government is taking upon itself to procure for CDC a new oil mill and a new rubber factory”. 

“A new oil mill and a new rubber factory will need to be fed by these plantations, which have to be rehabilitated and cultivated. A very important aspect which comes from the bitterness that we learn is that agriculture doesn’t accommodate inactivity. We learned that bitter lesson from banana,” he said. 

Njie noted further that: “The banana sector of CDC, which was bringing in a turnover of valuable foreign exchange for this country of about 35 billion FCFA, disappeared within a few weeks of inactivity on the plantations. The same will apply for rubber and oil palm in different dimension because agriculture doesn’t accommodate inactivity”. 

“The plantations are there and they hold their potentials…before the crisis, we were on eight tonnes per hectare averagely, so the potential to give eight tonnes per hectare is there,” he stated.

It should be recalled that the financial impasse at the CDC and amassment of huge debts was orchestrated by the crisis rocking the North West and South West Regions. Most of the corporation’s operations including planations and factories grounded after attacks by separatists on its workers and installations, causing huge financial losses.

For years now, the CDC has been struggling to get back on its feet. With the government’s move to financially bail out the corporation, pundits say the CDC is in for better days ahead.

  

 

 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3326 of Friday December 20, 2024

 

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