The issue of the heavy social contributions debt of the Municipal Councils in the Centre Region was at the centre of negotiations on the 20th of December 2022 between the National Social Insurance Fund (NSIF), Senators and Mayors of the Centre Region at the hall of the Yaounde City Council.
Noël Alain Olivier MEKULU MVONDO AKAME, Director General of the NSIF was honoured and happy to work with members of the Councils and those of the Senate present at the event. The financial situation of the councils of the Centre region is of great concern because of the debts owed to the NSIF.
The debt situation of the 72 Councils of the Centre Region, as of the 15th of December 2022, is evaluated at 4 741 000 000 CFA francs. This debt plus penalties and additional charges for late payment amounts to 5,541,000,000 CFA francs. The Social Security Institution of Cameroon has placed 26 Councils out of the 72 registered on a moratorium, for a total debt of 2,000,000,000 CFA francs. Currently, more than 2 billion representing debts of councils are not covered. It should be noted that out of the 26 councils concerned, 14 have debts after the moratoriums were granted to them.
This means that despite the fact that a large proportion of the penalties and additional charges for late payments have been remitted and a moratorium has been granted according to a schedule, these councils have accumulated new debts. Furthermore, only 14 councils comply with the moratorium and 12 do not.
With regards to the NSIF, the councils have a very high debt: “The debts have been running for several years and some mayors who are in office today are not responsible for the volume of these debts”, explained Annir Dieudonné, Mayor of Yoko. The tripartite meeting, which brought together the NSIF, mayors and senators of the Centre Region, aimed to reach an agreement to reduce the debt of the councils. « We are very satisfied with the result of this meeting, and this result was possible thanks to the will of the NSIF.
We asked the Director General of the NSIF about the problem of the indebtedness of the councils of the Centre Region, and we asked him to help them by relieving these debts, » said Laurent Nkodo, vice-president of the Senate. He added: « He promised us, and today he made a solemn declaration that these communes could benefit from a remission of penalties and increases of 70% and it could even reach 80% for the communes that are very heavily indebted. The senators’ plea did not fall on deaf ears: « the NSIF is willing to grant them on the one hand remissions of increases and penalties for delays of 70% automatically, and on a case, by case basis, it is a rate that could reach 80%. And, on the other hand, a moratorium, a payment schedule that could, depending on the situation of the local authorities, extend up to 10 years when the debt situation is really heavy, » says the head of the NSIF. A commitment has been made, but it is up to the technical monitoring committee to follow up on the measures adopted: « The mayors of the Centre Region are each committed to meeting with the NSIF today to define the exact amount of the debt that we will pay, » explains Annir Dieudonné, Mayor of Yoko.
It is an action that comes at the right time, especially as it is a rather worrying situation for everyone. The councils are suffering because it is their area of competence, and the NSIF is suffering the consequences.
