The long wait is over. The promise has been respected. The increase in salaries for State employees is here; putting an end to months of speculations and expectations. It all began on 31st December, 2007 when President Paul Biya raised the hopes of civil servants with the announcement that "in the coming months, we are going to see to what extent budget wedges can allow us to envisage the gradual raising of remuneration in the public service".

Things accelerated last month, when after a week-long protest in February for better living conditions, the President of the Republic preoccupied by the concerns of Cameroonians, outlined a series of measures aimed at improving the purchasing power of his people. The package, unveiled during the Council of Ministers meeting of 7 March, 2008, included instructions for public service salaries to be augmented with effect from April 2008. Two Presidential decrees made the move concrete - basic salaries were to increase by 15 per cent, while housing allowances had to be augmented from 10 to 20 per cent of the basic salary.

This morning, therefore, civil servants, contract workers, workers recruited on the basis of a decision and servicemen, will witness a raise in their take home package when they go for their April salaries. The increase will be much in some cases if we have to go by the figures presented last Wednesday during a press conference by the Minister of Finance, Essimi Menye. For this month alone, the State had to chip in an additional seven billion to the 34 billion usually spent on the salary of 170,000 State workers each month. It is much sacrifice. The challenge is enormous as the Government has to make sure that the present move is sustainable. This can only be through the scaling down of State expenditure, reduction of ostentatious spending and above all improving revenue collection as recommended by the Prime Minister during a cabinet meeting.

Meanwhile, the effective payment of these new salaries can be considered as the dawn of a new era for State workers. It marks the debut to the end of a long and tumultuous journey which has taken civil servants through dark and roughed days. Following the economic crisis which rocked Cameroon in the late eighties and early nineties, the salaries of State employees were slashed. Twice. With the rising cost of living, it became practically impossible for most civil servants to make ends meet.

This desire of the Head of State to see the purchasing power of civil servants increase falls in line with a vision; a determination to improve the day-to-day life of Cameroonians and ensure their chances for a better future. In effect, there can hardly be any durable economic growth in the country if a good fraction of the population is under paid. Increasing the salary of civil servants will therefore do the entire Cameroonian economy a lot of good. The spill over effect is far reaching. Studies have indicated that most often one civil servant has over a dozen dependents.

Added to this is the fact that better remuneration of State personnel is believed, by many, to be a step in fighting corruption which has become endemic in our public service; a danger to development efforts. The high rate of fraud, inertia and bottle necks in treating administrative documents have partly been attributed to low pay. So too is the dwindling interest in work by some State employees. Most civil servants put in the least time and effort at work. "Small salary, small work" they often say. The country can hardly attain any meaningful growth under such conditions.

In effect, growth has been singled out as the key solution to most of our country's problem. Forecast for 2008 put the growth rate at 4.5 per cent as against 4.1 in 2007. Good. But still not what the economy needs for a smooth take off. Hopes are that, with the present moves to boost the economy, the coming year will be one of a strong revival in growth and improvement of living conditions of the population. Granted, the on going inflation observed in our markets doesn't spoil the broth.