Gov’t to suspend salaries of nearly 6,000 ‘runaway’ civil servants.

In the release, Minister Motaze revealed that 5,971 public servants have been identified as having travelled out of the country without return. 

The minister explained that they were identified as part of the operation to collect and process data relating to the movement of persons across Cameroon's borders.

As a precautionary measure to allow the concerned clarify and regularise their situations, Minister Motaze has announced that the salaries of the concerned for September and October 2026 have been redirected to the Yaounde I Treasurer Paymaster’s Office. 

Per the release, the 5,971 public servants must report to the premises of the Department of Personnel Expenditure and Pensions (DDPP), at the Ministry of Finance, Doors 117, 225, or 235 of Building A; with a photocopy of their passport and reason for their travel abroad. 

They are also expected to present a certificate of effective presence; postdated less than three months ago, and duly issued by their employing administration.

The documents, the minister said, will enable the competent services to examine the administrative situation of the individuals concerned and, if applicable, issue them the necessary clearance to collect their salary from the General Paymaster's Treasury of Yaounde I.

“After October 31, 2026, concerned public servants who have not been able to justify their administrative situation will be considered as having abandoned their post, and their salary will be suspended from the State payroll system, in accordance with the cleanup measures in force,” Minister Motaze warned.

The move, it should be said, is part of a robust campaign which government engaged in 2018 to clean up the public service of those unduly earning salaries from the public till for no work done.

In November 2024, at least 1,172 absentee personnel were dismissed over perpetual absenteeism and abandonment of their duty posts. Government again fired 297 personnel from the public service in February 2025. 

In total, over 4,320 civil servants have been dismissed from the public service in the last few years as part of the litigation phase of the Physical Counting of Civil Servants operation COPPE.

The dismissals, government explained, was the last stage of administrative process rigorously conducted in accordance with the provisions of Decree No 94/199 of 07 October 1994 on the General Statute of the Public Service amended and completed by Decree No 2000/287 of 12 October 2000.

The operation to clean the public service of absenteeism, it should be recalled, is in line with the directives of the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, implemented under the strict supervision of the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Dr Chief Joseph Dion Ngute. 

The chronic phenomenon, which has eaten deep into the public service, State authorities have repeatedly decried, affects public service delivery with unexplained delays in administrative processes and overall decline in performance. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3916 of Monday September 19, 2026