Labor Day was an auspicious moment to reflect on the inhuman and dispiriting conditions of Cameroonian workers, enslaved in the shackles of a rudderless political machinery that sacrifices their welfare on the altar of selfish parochial interests.
By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai*
May 1 was Labor Day and like their counterparts the world over, Cameroonians who labor, in both the public and private sectors spent the day on parade; in commemoration of their plight. In practical terms, the Cameroonian worker is a living testimony of the disconnect between the ruling elite and the masses. Since the advent of the New Deal government, Cameroonian workers have been in the shackles of a rudderless political machinery, which sacrifices their welfare on the altar of selfish parochial interests. Instead of propagating empty slogans about “greater achievements,” government should focus on tangible transformation through policies and concrete capital investment in the lives of workers.
The inability of the ruling elite to fashion out sustainable policies for human development has plunged the working masses into abysmal poverty. With the grinding poverty and apathy towards youth employment, the nation has been bedeviled by pervasive insecurity. All this is exacerbated by a systemic corruption that has crippled the country. Spurious claims of growth, unreliable statistics on looming prosperity, mendacious forecast of development, imprudent management of resources, unrealistic and non-feasible white elephant projects and unimaginable corruption have made Paul Biya’s much-hyped transformation to an emerging economy by 2035 a mirage.
Labor Day was thus an auspicious moment to reflect on the inhuman and dispiriting conditions in which Cameroonian workers operate. Beside the decrepit infrastructure, moribund institutions and harrowing bureaucratic obstacles in the public sector, in many private sector companies, there is a sustained slide into modern slavery as young ladies are sexually exploited, objectified and commoditized because they are desperate for employment. Cameroon ranks 150 out of 187 countries in the 2013 UNDP Human Development Index (HDI), which provides a composite measure of three basic dimensions of human development: health, education and income.
As Cameroonian laborers observe the yearly ritual of Labor Day, they must reflect on their plight and recommit to the fight for economic security, better life and defence of human dignity. For the good of the hardworking people of this country, labor unions and activists may wish to stress the importance of Labor Day by engaging government on the plight of the people. They should use the sanctity of Labor Day to familiarize Cameroonians with the fact that obnoxious policies favorable only to entrenched interests have made a living hell out of Cameroon for workers.
Labor Day is also a period to think deeply about the unemployed. In a country where 48 % of the population lives below the poverty line; with youth unemployment at 13%, Cameroon totters on the brink of a precipice if this national crisis is not addressed. Unemployment has scaled alarming levels to compel the declaration of a national emergency. There is certainly an urgent need to emphasize job creation in private and public sectors. As typical of a government caught between confusion and deception, there is no strategic agenda for job creation. This is a sad commentary on the vision or lack thereof on the part of Cameroonian leaders. And to illustrate the visionlessness embedded in our governance, how much of the national budget is for job creation? To successfully tackle unemployment, all government budgets must include specific targets of job creation in each financial year.
For the vulnerable senior citizens, who have toiled and are expectant of a rewarding life as pensioners, a beleaguered pension system has not only been a failure, a grand theft of the pensions by government officials has been one of the most spectacular tragedies of the nation. The harrowing experiences of pensioners over the collection of their paltry gratuity, as well as alarming stories of fraud perpetrated in the national social insurance fund (CNPS) are testament to a nation fast losing its soul.
Add all these to unscrupulous expatriates who exploit the nation’s corrupt system to break labor laws and ethical norms. While foreign investors are certainly welcome, it often seems that many expatriates deliberately set out to operate outside laws, regulations and even morality. These companies have appalling labor standards. Wages are extremely low, job security non-existent and the widely-held belief is that foreign companies treat workers shabbily, confident in their ability to operate above the law. This negatively impacts the economy; from low productivity of workers trapped in demoralizing jobs to the millions of francs worth of consumption power the economy loses when workers are underpaid.
Foreign companies routinely hire their nationals to occupy positions that thousands of unemployed Cameroonians are perfectly qualified to do. Some of the companies don’t even bother at times to obtain the required work permit; their nationals just jump on the plane to start working in Cameroon. A not so discreet discrimination operates in these companies when managerial positions are exclusively allotted to nationals from their home countries who are promoted over and above better qualified and more experienced Cameroonians. And it must be said that foreign companies who specialize in unethical conduct are doing so only because Cameroonian politicians and bureaucrats would rather profit from that system than conscientiously hold them accountable.
As condemnable as this is, it reflects the deepening crisis and contradictions of the Cameroonian state, especially given its grossly apparent declining capacity, if not total failure, to measure up to its responsibilities in all ramifications. When the level of state robbery by public officials and the absurdity of their extravagant life style vis-à-vis the squalor of the majority are considered, the despondency of workers encompasses criminality and soullessness. This should tug at the heart-strings of members of the occupation brigade otherwise called leaders. In Nigeria and Ghana, Labor Day celebrations were presided at, by President Goodluck Jonathan and John Mahama respectively - a powerful symbol of solidarity that the Commander-in-Chief is also the “Worker-in-Chief” doing the job given him by the people; who elected (hired) him. That Biya has never presided over Labor Day celebrations in over 30 years in office, is a mark of the contempt with which the President holds the Cameroonian worker!
It is for this and other reasons, that Labor Day should neither be a day for parades with no message of social relevance, nor one day in the year when government officials, oblivious of the plight of the masses, sardonically claim solidarity with workers. To address workers’ plight, government must go back to basics: provide a conducive environment for citizens to expend their energy, time and skills through work for their own self-actualization and optimal development of society. The need for the President to show leadership in providing the enabling environment necessary for integral development of society is more than just an urgent national imperative.
*Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai is a public intellectual and graduate of Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government where he was Managing Editor of the Harvard Journal of African-American Public Policy. A former Research Analyst for Central Africa with Freedom House, he is a consultant and lives in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Talk back at ekinneh@yahoo.com.
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