The annual conference for officials of central and devolved services ends in Yaounde on January 31, 2014.

After the Head of State’s end-of-year speech to the nation on December 31, 2013, when he highlighted the necessity to give priority to general interest rather than personal interest, the Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms, Michel Ange Angouing, while opening the annual conference of officials of the central and devolved services of his ministry yesterday, January 30, in Yaounde, stressed on the importance of serving the public’s general interest in what they do.

Minister Angouing said there was no need to overemphasise that the public service is at the service of general interest, reason why personnel in the ministry need to be abreast with important tools which put the general interest of the public at the forefront in their daily tasks. He underscored that many reforms have been carried out at the Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reforms in a bid to satisfy the needs of the public such as the decentralisation and management of human resources.

Hence, much has been done to ensure that each ministry has the competence to manage the careers of its personnel and its payroll. Retirement reforms now ensure that once a civil servant goes on retirement, he/she automatically starts receiving his/her full pension. However, Minister Angouing told his collaborators that much still has to be done, reason why the conference has to come out with recommendations which will help them better attend to the needs of the public.