In the political debate of Radio Ndekeluka, the syndical leader reveals how social partners have been put in front of the fact that the fuel price increase is being made. He denounces a governance method based on secrecy and disrespect for social dialogue.
Invited on the political debate plateau alongside Paul Crescent Beninga and Olivier Malibangar, Nicaise Ngouandji, secretary general of the Free Union of Labor Syndicates of Centrafrique, took advantage of this tribune to raise the veil on the conditions under which the fuel price increase decision was made and announced to syndicalist organizations. A narrative that highlights a criticized governance method based on opacity and the fact accomplished.
The syndicalist recounts without restraint how things unfolded. ‘We have been summoned, we have been invited to the level of the presidency and told that a fuel price increase will be made. A formula that, alone, sums up the sense of helplessness of social partners facing a decision already sealed. Because for Nicaise Ngouandji, the question was not whether to increase prices, but to understand how such a measure could have been prepared without them.
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‘We have said, but how did it happen? We are informed that a committee has been established in advance and that this committee has done a job. » The constat is bitter: a committee has been formed, laid out the question, made its conclusions, and the syndicats have been informed only at the official announcement. Worse still, for the syndicalist, this summons was nothing more than a negotiation. ‘We are called to announce, not to discuss with you. We are workers. I weigh my words, it is for announcing. Because we know the government, everything is hidden. »
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For Nicaise Ngouandji, the question is not only methodological, but also institutional. The oil sector, he reminds, is a complex and sensitive area for Centrafricain.
For Nicaise Ngouandji, the question is not only methodical, but also institutional. The centrafrican oil sector, he reminds, is a sector encompassing. The Transport, Commerce, Energy Ministry. The Energy Ministry has not been seen. The responsible group for consumers, the civil society, the Ministry… All these sensitivities must be brought together around a table to define whether there is a need to increase the carbon prices. This has not been done. »
For Nicaise Ngouandji, the absence of concertation is more incomprehensible for the syndicalist, that the consequences of the price increase touch the entire economy and society of Centrafrique.
