Konye Council workers face 15 months of unpaid salaries

Konye, Cameroon ( CNA) – A growing crisis is unfolding in Konye Council, where employees have endured a staggering 16 months without receiving their salaries. The situation has sparked outrage among workers struggling to make ends meet, especially as the new school year approaches.

While council workers grapple with financial hardship, the local authorities are allegedly preparing to host a ceremony to welcome Northwest Fons to the area. Someone with knowledge of the situation said funds for such events should be diverted to alleviate the suffering of the unpaid employees.

The Senior Divisional Officer for the Meme Division has intervened in the matter through several crisis meetings but has yet to find a resolution. Adding to the workers’ woes is the inconvenient location of their bank, which is situated in Limbe, necessitating costly travel expenses for salary transactions.

With the start of the school year imminent, the financial hardship faced by council workers is expected to worsen, potentially impacting their children’s education.

The Mayor of the Council has told CNA that they are trying their best to pay the arrears, refuting allegations that the workers are owed 16 months, “Workers have not gone for 16 months without salaries. They are owed salaries arrears not for 16 consecutive months. Whenever our allocations come they are paid.”

The Mayor further said that the workers have not been paid for 15 months in total, but these months are not successive. “We last paid in March and June 2024. Today with its at 15 months arrears. We have not received even the first quotation for 2024 yet seven months have elapsed. That’s our plight that some people want to attribute to administrative management.

Barrister Dr. George Musima Lobe said the workers have only been paid twice because the Council received allocations once, meaning the workers have been paid for two out of seven months. He blames this on the none availability of allocation for the year 2024,

“It will interest you to know that we are in the eighth month but have not received the first quarter for this year. The amount of the allocations most often cannot treat three months of our salary package with other council commitments.”

Aside from the allocations, the Mayor lamented they cannot receive taxes like other councils, because they are not operating where they are supposed to, “The council is operating out of jurisdiction and does not have access to its taxpayers hence internal revenue is almost absent. We depend on our additional taxes from the government which is not coming,” he said.

Konye is a Council in Meme Division in the SOuth West region.