By Stephen TADAHA
Workers’ Trade Unions in Cameroon want the minimum wage to be increased to at least FCFA 100,000 in response to the increase in the prices of petroleum products.
This is one of the major proposals made known on Monday February 19, 2024 in a meeting between some workers’ trade union organizations and the Minister of labour and social security, Gregoire Owona.
During the meeting, the trade unionists expressed their desire to see the government immediately put in place some measures that will facilitate their adaptation to the increase in the prices fuel at fueling stations. More to that, they expressed their desire to see an increase in the minimum wage in Cameroon even though not applied in every sector. The minimum wages per sector in the country currently stands at FCFA 41,875 for state agents as stated in the labour code, FCFA 45,000 for the agricultural sector and FCFA 60,000 for other sectors.
These trade unionists say they want the minimum wage, particularly in the public sector to
be increased.
‘We have requested that collective conventions be reviewed and negotiated. It is in this way that the living standards of all workers can be increased,’ Isaac Bissala, leader of a trade union declared.
‘We have requested that the minimum wage be increased to FCFA 100,000’ Pierre Louis Mouangue, another unionist declared.
Apart from the the above-mentioned proposals, the trade unionists also requested the following:
Increase in family allowance from FCFA 2 800 to FCFA 4 500.
Old age allowance be increased from FCFA 300 000 to FCFA 750 000 as from the month of February 2024.
Before taking any decision that will impact the lives of workers and companies, the government should consult social partners.
The Government promised to give its point of view after it must have thoroughly examined the proposals.
Source: Cameroon News Agency
The government will construct 5,000 housing units in Elgeyo Marakwet County under the Affordable Housing Programme (AHP).
The county AHP and markets implementation committee said Iten town under the Keiyo North sub-county, being the county headquarters, would get 2,000 units while Keiyo South, Marakwet East, and Marakwet West sub-counties would each get 1,000 units.
In a meeting chaired by County Commissioner John Korir, members were informed that already, a parcel of land had been identified in Iten for the construction of 200 units, with the tender being advertised.
The meeting was also informed that all 4 sub-counties had identified land for the construction of markets and that a team from Nairobi would this week visit the sites to embark on the drawing of the designs before advertising for the tenders in the next two weeks.
Noting that inadequate land was one of the challenges facing the project, the meeting put land grabbers on notice with National Land Commission County Coordinator Rebecca Maritim s
aying they have forwarded a list of people who have grabbed public land to the EACC to repossess the land.
She said NLC had put a caveat on all titles issued for public land to prevent wananchi from falling prey to people who may sell the land to unsuspecting Kenyans saying they had already successfully repossessed some of the grabbed plots.
The meeting called on the EACC to fast-track the process, especially on land where people have allotment letters but were yet to put up any developments on the land.
The county commissioner called on all government departments to play their role in ensuring that the programme is successful and urged officers to be ambassadors of the same by explaining to wananchi the benefits of the scheme.
Source: Kenya News Agency
