On October 14, 2024, Gabon's transitional Prime Minister, Raymond Ndong Sima, chaired a conference on the civil service
On October 14, 2024, Gabon's transitional Prime Minister, Raymond Ndong Sima, chaired a conference on the civil service during which the authorities resulting from the coup d'état of August 30, 2023 were critical of the actions of civil servants, claiming to have made significant efforts for them over the past year. Efforts deemed insufficient by civil servants. Explanations.
In Gabon, the results have been mixed in the civil service since the military came to power a year ago. This was noted on October 14, 2024 by the Prime Minister during a conference on the subject. The conference brought several members of the government face to face with directors and general secretaries of the public administration.
The government believes that it has unlocked many benefits for civil servants. Poor reception of users, nonchalance in the processing of files: in short, civil servants are to blame, according to the authorities.
"The civil service is on the verge of saturation"
The Prime Minister of the Transition, Raymond Ndong Sima, went straight to the point with the senior civil servants: he judged their work unsatisfactory, even if he later indicated that not everything was bad.
Over the past year, the military has recruited around 5,000 new civil servants, pension arrears have been paid, thousands of civil servants have also been regularized, even if these advantages have caused the wage bill to explode.
“In September 2023, the Gabonese civil service had 104,000 agents. In September 2024, there will be 109,000 agents,” explains Charles Mba, Minister of Public Accounts. Compared to this year, the wage bill will already increase by a little over 50 billion [76 million euros, Editor’s note]. The civil service is on the verge of saturation.”
As they left the meeting, the employees did not hesitate to express their dissatisfaction. "All the workers are dissatisfied because there is nothing concrete," replied one of the agents. "The civil service has not provided satisfactory information." Another added: "We think that the government should have given us a schedule for paying salaries and settling administrative regulations. For the moment, we are disappointed." Despite these imperfections, the civil service remains the largest employer in Gabon, ahead of the private sector, which is not recruiting enough.
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