Gabon cuts public sector pay

2009-10-30 12:46

Libreville - Gabon's new government will put a ceiling on public sector wages, it announced on Thursday through the media, in line with new President Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba's pledge to cut public spending.

The managing director of a state company will henceforth earn a maximum €7 600 a month, while the chairman of a board of governors will earn €4 500 and a director in a company will earn €3 000, the cabinet ruled.

The measure was announced in the daily L'Union after a cabinet meeting. The reported goals were to "boost economic activity" in a climate of "greater and more harmonious social justice."

The government was also studying ways to restructure public companies where necessary and make them more competitive. From November, the authorities "plan to audit staffing in the public sector, with workforce pay," the paper said.

Prime Minister Paul Biyoghe Mba had already announced austerity measures by suppressing many government jobs, notably among presidential aides and in the administration. He also heads the most streamlined government in decades.

L'Union reported a plan "for the emergence of Gabon during the period 2010-2016" under with "at least 40% of the general state budget and of individual ministerial department budgets will be devoted to investment."

For many observers, the regime of Omar Bongo Ondimba, who died in June after 41 years in power, was marked by favouritism and tarnished by corruption, so that little of Gabon's considerable oil wealth benefited the people.

Ali Bongo, who was sworn in to replace his father on October 16 after a hotly disputed election, has promised a more equitable sharing of wealth in the equatorial African country.

- AFP