Kini Nsom
29 September 2008
Prime Minister, Chief Ephraim Inoni, has warned that persistent social conflicts in the public service could derail government from achieving its development objectives.
Inoni issued the warning while presiding over the opening ceremony of an international forum on the 'prevention and management of social conflicts' in the public service, September 22, in Yaounde.
Organised by the African Centre for Training and Administrative Research for Development, known by its French acronym as CRAFRAD, the forum brought together officials from some 30 African countries.
Inoni called on the participants to identify the sources of social conflicts in the public services of their countries so that they can always nip them in the bud.To him, social conflicts can slow down the flow of services in the public service.
According to CAFRAD officials, the forum was necessitated by the fact that in most African countries, the Ministry of Public Service assures the responsibility of solving social conflicts. Such conflicts, they say, deal generally with social demands of civil servants, notably the improvement of working conditions, salary increase, and the retrenchment of workers.
The main objective of the forum was, therefore, to help countries to face the various social conflicts, through appropriate strategies and mechanisms of negotiation and resolution of conflict. Participants were expected to chart ways of resolving conflicts.
Commenting on these objectives, Cameroon's Minister of Public Service, Emmanuel Mbonde, said it was incumbent on Africa to seek ways of fighting social conflicts in the public services because they slow down development. He said any conflict can stifle work and make things difficult for the managers of the public service. Going by him, if the public service is infested with social conflicts, the whole country is likely to be sick.
Daniel Chifamba, a Director in the Ministry of Public Service of Zimbabwe, said social conflict can bring in real inertia and laxity in the public service. He said social conflicts in Zimbabwe are caused by the poor economic situation: the fact that people lack ways of making ends meet.
The forum rounded up on September 24 with participants pledging to implement all the resolutions that could help quell social tensions in their various countries.
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