While, more than sixty years after independence, some still lament the reasons why “France lost the Sahel”, fueling anti-French propaganda – paid or unpaid – in recent days around the military bases of Niamey and Ouallam, others are working on how to achieve social peace as quickly as possible. In any case, this is an option activated by the new president of the transition in Gabon, General Brice Oligui Nguema.
Just one day after President Ali Bongo “retired”, on August 31, the person in charge attempted to transfer the management of the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) and the National Health Insurance and Guarantee Fund into the hands of workers. Social (CNAMGS).
No doubt he has in mind (did anyone tell him?) that the Gabonese, in addition to being deeply tired of the mismanagement and corruption of their elites, are fiercely linked to the national social protection system. Starting with its CNSS, inherited directly from France, and whose disastrous management led to its being placed under provisional administration for more than a year.
A long-awaited state withdrawal
The withdrawal of the State from the management of the two entities, which took place many years ago by the Federation of Gabon Companies (FEG), must hope, if in Libreville, to allow better management of contributions and eliminate the government's attempt to dive into it whenever it sees fit .
A more logical decision is that companies are the only contributors to the financing of the CNSS, with the State's failure to pay its own contributions being notorious...
Reassuring public servants and private sector workers about the preservation of their social rights, anchoring domestic peace... the former head of Gabon's presidential guard – from the Bongo clan and an integral part of the old system – is undoubtedly aware that This is a matter of winning the hearts (and pockets?) of the Gabonese as quickly as possible, to showcase your strengths from the start.
Inspiring example from Côte d'Ivoire
Do you have in mind the example of the virtuous management of pension funds for public servants and the private sector in Côte d'Ivoire, ensured respectively by IPS-CGRAE and IPS-CNPS? With a deficit just ten years ago, they were reformed and now prosper, with a total surplus of around 1,500 billion CFA francs (2.3 billion euros).
Enough to form institutional investors capable of buying the local subsidiary of BNP Paribas in a short space of time this year, when the French banking group decided to hasten its exit from the country.
In 2012, shortly after coming to power, Alassane Ouattara allowed himself to be convinced of the importance of restructuring the functioning of these funds. How inspired he was! Not only are the funds in perfect health today, but since then they have regularly updated their services, launched there supplementary pensions and a scheme for self-employed workers, and are now working to create new branches, such as housing pensions.
Uncertainties in Niger and Burkina, chaos in Congo
In Niger, where the CNSS was one of the best-run social protection organizations in French-speaking Africa until the overthrow of President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, the coup plotters opted for a blank slate, dismissing all those responsible in the days following the seizure of power. Will they quickly take over the Fund's large projects that remain unfinished, entrusting them to responsible, long-term managers?
In Burkina Faso, where Carfo (Autonomous Pension Fund for Public Servants) was also the pride of its contributors before the 2022 coups, the transitional authorities hosted a mission from the French company Finactu since the beginning of September in Ouagadougou (Africa Business+ of 01/09/23) which aims precisely to further improve its functioning. The list is long of African jurisdictions that watch over the proper functioning of their social systems like milk on fire.
In Congo-Brazzaville, on the other hand, the CNSS and CREF find themselves in a catastrophic situation: retirees have not received their pension for two years, an issue that deserves more attention, some will say...
Social benefits, guarantees of political stability
Because social protection, based on the well-being of the populations, all African governments are achieving this, it is only a matter of time, especially with the return of electoral deadlines, organized in a free and transparent way.
Once the poor relation of public policies, the defense of the rights to health and retirement has become, in this period of coups d'état, the priority of the new masters of the presidential palaces. That I understood that good performance and regular payment of social benefits constituted the best way to obtain political stability and peace Social.
