By Atia Tilarious Azohnwi
Franklin Ngoni Njie, General Manager of the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC has called on workers, community leaders and the general public to exercise calm and respect for all installations and property owned by the corporation.
The call is contained in a press release dated July 20, 2018. The General Manager cites the recent development leading to the attack and destruction of installations of the CDC, insisting that the corporation has for the last 71 years played a developmental role.
Njie went on to acknowledge the negative impact that the recent attacks on the CDC have had on their operations, expressing concerns that these attacks could lead to the destruction of the social fabric and greatly affect the communal relationship which the corporation has built over the years.
Cognizant of the difficulties faced by the staff of the CDC due to the current socio-political crisis, Njie reiterates that “the CDC remains an apolitical, people-oriented organization with the goal to acquire, develop and operative extensive plantations of tropical crops.”
He says “the CDC remains committed to the ideals and principles of development that underpin its creation and existence…informs all that measures are being taken by the competent authorities to ensure that the corporation continues to function and play the very role for which it was created in 1947.”
The CDC General Manager concludes the July 20, 2018 press release by calling on workers to remain forward looking. “The management of the CDC finally wishes to once again assure all her workers that, while the state is engaged in providing a lasting solution to the crisis, they are enjoined to remain calm and forward looking as management is doing all it takes to ensure that things unfold in the best interest of workers.”
The government is yet to urgently show concern to the plight of the Cameroon Development Corporation badly bruised by the socio-political unrest in the North West and South West Regions.
With the growing fragility of the social peace among the large labour force the largest employer after the state, government is expected to take urgent measures to save the CDC. In fact, the Anglophone crisis only came to add to the problems of low yields, old factories and outdated mills rocking the corporation.
The government on June 20, 2018, rather opted to sign three memoranda of understanding with three international investors – two French and one Egyptian – as part of a process to restructure and step up production at the CDC.
After the agreements signed in Yaoundé, the general Manager of the CDC came back without the much needed money to pay its workers who have since written o the Head of State. CDC staff reps and unionists in a June 15, 2018 letter addressed to President Paul Biya urge him to “speedily seek appeasing solutions to the ongoing crisis” and as well “provide urgent financial assistance to workers in crisis-hit estates”.
With the CDC in need of over FCFA 80 billion subvention from the state to stabilise itself, the fact that the General Manager returned from Yaoundé without the much needed subvention points to government insensitivity to the plights of the workers of the company.
During a meeting, Friday, June 8, 2018 at the Senior Service (SS) Club Bota chaired by CDC General Manager, Franklin Njie, staff representatives were told that the corporation plans to lay-off workers in estates badly affected by the civil unrest – close to nine thousand workers may be affected by this decision.
Going by a report presented on May 8, 2018 during a meeting attended by 17 persons including CDC management staff, labour administrators and trade union leaders, “the crisis is taking a toll on the socio-economic situation of workers as several establishments are no longer in operation given that workers, out of fear and threats on their lives no longer go to work”.
The CDC has about twenty thousand contracts of employment and a related monthly wage bill of about FCFA 2.5 billion. “Considering the fact that production activities have ceased in many of the estates and industrial units; taking into account the likely deterioration of the existing socio-economic situation;” the CDC social partners recommended that “the government should take hasty measures to redress this situation so that social peace and economic revival be restored in CDC establishments.”
The staff reps and unionists want the state to take its responsibility as owner of 100 percent shares of the CDC, which responsibility includes and is not limited to providing money for the payment of salaries and seeking measures to resolve the current crisis.
A July 6, 2018 internal service note captioned “statement of assurance” and signed by the CDC General Manager went viral on social media. In the letter, Franklin Njie writes that: “Currently, work is suspended in ten of our estates/units putting about five thousand jobs at risk.”
The GM says the state of Cameroon has been duly informed of the prevailing situation. “While the state is engaged in providing a lasting solution to the crisis, all workers of the Cameroon Development Corporation are enjoined to remain calm and forward looking as management is doing all it takes to ensure that things unfold in the best interest.”
The July 20, 2018 press release is only one among the several measures the company is taken to ensure social peace among its workers.