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The Committee notes the Government’s last report, which provides general information on the application of various provisions of the Convention, in terms that are moreover identical with those of previous reports, but does not reply to the Committee’s recent comments. The Committee recalls, for example, that the Government has still not replied to the comments made by the Christian Confederation of Workers of Central Africa (CCTC) in 2002 concerning wage arrears in the public service. The Committee also notes that the statistics provided by the Government on the wage mass of public officials, and the report on personnel management, provide no clarification on the number of workers affected by arrears, the total amount of the sums due or the practical measures taken to eliminate such phenomena. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to provide up-to-date information on developments in the situation with regard to the deferred payment of wages and to report any new measures taken to resolve the situation. The Committee hopes that, in the interest of maintaining a constructive dialogue with the Organization’s supervisory bodies, the Government will not fail to prepare a detailed report on the problems raised so that it can be examined at the Committee’s next session.

The Committee takes the opportunity to recall, as emphasized in paragraph 355 of its General Survey of 2003 on the protection of wages, that the quintessence of wage protection is the assurance of a periodic payment allowing the worker to organize his everyday life with a reasonable degree of certainty and security. Consequently, the delayed payment of wages or the accumulation of wage debts clearly contravene the letter and spirit of the Convention and render the application of most of its other provisions simply meaningless.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.