PUBLIC SERVICE RECRUITMENT: MINFOPRA ADVOCATES RIGOR, QUALITY AND EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION, NOT NUMBERS

The minister of public service and administrative Reform made this call during the 2-days Pre-Validation Conference on the recruitment plan within the public service for the 2027 financial year, this day October 14, 2026, at the auditorium of MINFOPRA’s Annex building Dragage.

This conference that was organized following the instruction of President Paul BIYA, to further rationalize recruitment in Cameroon’s Public Service in a bit to better control the salary bill and ensure efficiency, all Human Resource Directors and Directors of General Affairs from various ministries were convened to elaborate on what Mr. Joseph LE calls the “Paradox of Overstaffing in Cities, Emptiness in Regions”

"How can we explain that in Yaoundé or Douala and in certain large cities, we have plethoric staff? In the same office, you have five, six people to accomplish the same task, while in the regions; you have zero persons to accomplish three tasks. It's not normal," he said.

He stressed the need for a rational redeployment of staff to ensure that every administration, both in urban centers and in remote regions, has the personnel needed to function effectively. The Minister reminded that Cameroon has moved from a career-based system to a job-based public service. "We are now in a job-based public service. We no longer recruit in bulk. We recruit so that a post that is vacant is filled," he explained.

In this new framework, every administration must not only express its staffing needs, but above all justify each need and account for the personnel already placed at its disposal in previous years. Consequently, before any new recruitment, an evaluation of existing human resources is now mandatory.

At the center of discussions is AIGLES – the Logical Management Application for Workforce and Payroll. Described as a crucial tool for managing state human resources and the wage bill, AIGLES will help the government better control payroll and sanction absenteeism. "If the information is not correct, AIGLES will tell you this is wrong. AIGLES will also be able to tell us that Mr. X has not been at his duty post for two months. If you are absent for 15 days, it will pay you only for 15 days," the Minister explained.

Through this rationalization and the predictive management of jobs and skills, the government aims to build a more efficient, equitable, and merit-based public service in Cameroon.

Jessica Ndanji,

Journalist, Communication Unit.