Social debt of the City Councils of the Centre Region The Senators are looking for...

The Senators are looking for solutions. They held a working session with the Director General of the NSIF on the 20^th of September 2022 at the Head Office.

The heavy debt of social contributions of local authorities (CTDs) is a concern. The group of senators from the Centre Region did not hide their dismay at this overwhelming situation for the workers of these structures. At the initiative of the parliamentarians, a meeting was held at the NSIF Head Office. Senator Laurent Nkodo, Spokesperson of the Senators states: "We came to meet the Director General on behalf of the city councils of the Centre Region, currently experiencing severe difficulties with the payment of social contributions. We raised the problem. The social contributions are due on the whole, but the issue is to see with the Top Management of the NSIF how we can help these city councils to settle their debt gradually ".

However, it should be recalled that the CTDs recently benefited from easing measures to pay off the debt, specifically the cancellation of the down payment required to benefit from a moratorium; the establishment of flexible and favourable payment deadlines; and the waiver of 70% of penalties and late payment surcharges for Councils in general and 80% for Councils experiencing economic difficulties. However, the City Councils do not respect the payment deadlines they propose. To date, the cumulative debt of the Councils in the Centre Region rose to more than CFA francs 4 billion, including late payment surcharges and penalties, thus leading to the suspension of social benefits due to workers.

The senators' plea was received with interest by the Director General of the NSIF: "We had a very fruitful meeting. I was very interested in the proposals I made to improve communication with the Senators and the local authorities concerning their financial concern. We think, in the coming days, we shall intensify this communication, so that the situation can be further clarified, significantly improved ".

Following the meeting in a cordial atmosphere, the Senators and the Top Manager of the Institution in charge of Social protection, agreed to meet with all the municipal executives in the next few days. During the meeting, the interests of the stakeholders will be discussed.