The Cameroonian minister of external relations has in a recent memo warned officials who do not come or come late to work. Felix Mbayu (pictured) threatens to sanction them. Sanctions will not be applied on officials with formal authorization from their superiors or on official missions.

Commenting on the memo, an official of the Ministry said it is important, before threatening any sanctions, to carry out a census of the personnel and identify the motivations of these repeated absences.

According to him, this first step will enable the department to realize that "hundreds of public servants live outside the country but continue to enjoy their full rights."  “It is not by threatening to suspend the random performance bonus that staff will be motivated, especially when they are working themselves to death without the possibility of benefiting from a mission," he said.

D.M.