1. INTRODUCTION
1.1
Definition of Informal Sector
The
economic fabric of a country’s economy comprises the formal and informal
sectors. In principle, the former is that section of the economy whose
activities are regulated by the government whereas the latter is that part of
the economy which operates clandestinely or on the fringes of the law. The
aforementioned description of the informal sector is corroborated by a
specialist in informal-sector issues. He states that the concept of informality
deals with the nature of informal activities, that is, activities which cannot
be controlled and registered or which are not controlled by labour inspection
laws.
However, this definition of the informal
sector has been substantially watered down by recent developments in many
economies due to the huge contribution made by the informal sector to the
progress of the economies concerned. To this end, the informal sector in
Cameroon can now be ascribed formal attributes since it is gradually being
formalized by the conspicuous presence of the State through institutions such
as PIAASI (Integrated Support Project for Informal-Sector Actors) and the
National Employment Fund (NEF). Furthermore, at the international level, the
International Labour Organization (ILO) is also seriously involved in the
formalization of the informal sector for the benefit of the world economy and
the protection of the rights of the informal-sector workers involved. In a
nutshell, this formalization process of the informal sector involves, inter
alia, its removal from the confines of clandestine activities by granting it
formal-sector characteristics such as the promotion and protection of the
rights of workers, the rational organization of the sector, etc.
1.2
Historical
Considerations
Historically,
the Cameroon Government started taking the informal sector very seriously at
the end of the 1980s when many State-owned and private corporations were closed
down because of mismanagement and an acute economic crisis. In this connection,
structures such as the National Employment Fund, Women Empowerment Centres
(WECs), the Support Programme for Rural and Urban Youths (PAJER-U) have been
set up. This institutional breakthrough at the public level culminated in the
creation of the Integrated Support Project for Informal-Sector Actors which is
the only State institution responsible solely for informal-sector issues. At
the private level, bodies such as the National Street Vendors’ Association
(ANESCAM) and the National Association of Operators of the Informal Sector and
of the Fight against Poverty in Cameroon (ANOSILP) were set up. All these
structures are an epitome of the importance of the informal sector and by
extension, the rights of its actors or workers. They operate within the
confines of a well-defined legal and institutional framework.
2 Framework of Informal Sector
2.1 Legal Framework
In
Cameroon, there are some laws and decrees which govern the informal sector.
These laws and decrees grant formal characteristics to the informal sector.
They deal with a variety of domains such as the motorbike business, gambling
activities and the bar business.
As
concerns gambling activities, the Cameroonian Government thought it wise to
regulate them through a decree.
This decree deprived these activities of a very significant part of their
clandestine or informal nature. It went a long way to protect the rights of the
stakeholders involved.
As regards
the bar business, the Cameroonian Government protected it by issuing a decree.
To some extent, it indirectly and directly provided legal recognition to
especially the proprietors of small
drinking spots which do not have any streamlined management techniques and a
well-defined framework for the protection of the rights of their workers.
Lastly,
one of the landmark formalization processes in the informal sector in Cameroon
is that of the motorbike business. This formalization process is governed by an
elaborate decree. This
decree grants a very formal nature to motorbike business by, inter alia,
providing the terms and conditions to be fulfilled in order to become a
commercial motor biker and the sanctions to be meted out to defaulting
commercial motor bikers.
2.2
Institutional
Framework
Taking
cognizance of the invaluable contribution of the informal sector to Cameroon’s
economy, a series of institutions, as already seen, have been set up to promote
and protect the sector. At the Government level, they are, inter alia, the
National Employment Fund, Women Empowerment Centres, the Support Programme for
Rural and Urban Youths and the Integrated Support Project for Informal-Sector
Actors. At the private level, they are, inter alia, the National Street
Vendors’ Association, the National Association of Operators of the Informal
Sector, and of the Fight against Poverty in Cameroon.
The National Employment Fund
provides training to jobseekers in both the formal and informal sectors.
Furthermore, it funds projects in these two sectors. In this connection,
informal-sector activities such as the weaving of baskets and the mending of
shoes are financed by the said fund.
Women Empowerment Centres provide
training and job opportunities to Cameroonian Women in the informal sector.
These centres are of paramount importance since the informal sector in Cameroon
is mainly manned by women.
The Support Programme for Rural and
Urban Youths is one of the structures set up by the Cameroonian Government to
alleviate poverty. It deals with the self-employment of youths by providing
funds for self-employment projects.
Contrary to the above-mentioned
State institutions handling informal-sector issues in Cameroon, the Integrated
Support Project for Informal-Sector Actors (PIAASI) was set up to handle the
said issues in specialized and rational ways. Its objectives are, namely:
-
To develop the potentialities for job
creation in the informal-sector;
-
To take social-protection measures as well as
design appropriate rules and regulations to guide informal-sector activities;
-
To set up a revolving system for funding
micro-projects;
-
To enable informal-sector stakeholders to
form common initiative groups;
-
To organize the poor so that they should be
involved in income-generating activities.
PIAASI has set up
regional branches all over Cameroon for the purpose of realizing the
aforementioned objectives.
Lastly, there are non-governmental
institutions which defend the rights of informal-sector operators. One of these
institutions is the National Street Vendors’ Association which is out to ensure
that street vendors operate on the basis of decent working conditions.
Furthermore there is the National Association of Operators of the Informal
Sector, and of the Fight against Poverty in Cameroon. This body came into the
limelight in the wake of the recent wanton destruction of informal-sector
businesses in Yaounde by the Yaounde Government Delegate. It defends the rights
of informal-sector workers in a vocal and radical way.
3 Assessment of the State of the
Informal Sector in Cameroon
3.1 Contractual Rights
Most
informal-sector workers in Cameroon do not work on the basis of a contract.
This situation is quite evident in family businesses and other small
businesses. For instance, most of the proprietors of these businesses do not
acknowledge, especially at the contractual level, the payment of the minimum
guaranteed salary (28.416XAF) which is obtainable in Cameroon’s private sector,
thereby contravening the provisions of the Minimum Wage Fixing Convention. Furthermore, other vital contractual aspects
such as social-security rights are completely discarded by most owners of
informal-sector businesses.
3.2
Organizational
Rights
For any
structure or business to succeed, it needs streamlined and rational organization.
Despite some laudable endeavours from ANESCAM, ANOSILP, PIAASI, WECs, NEF, etc,
a lot still has to be done in the informal sector in Cameroon. Most
informal-sector operators or workers are not members of informal-sector
associations and are not provided with organizational skills. This state of
affairs partially justifies the disorder prevailing in the sector in Cameroon
and the frequent harassment of the stakeholders concerned. To crown it all, the
Cameroon Government has done very little in ensuring that necessary and
appropriate measures are taken so that workers and employers of the informal
sector may freely exercise their right to organize themselves.
3.3
Social-Security
Rights
The
informal sector in Cameroon makes a mockery of these rights. Social-security
benefits such as old-age benefits, family benefits, etc, are not part and
parcel of the informal-sector vocabulary in Cameroon. This situation flouts the
provisions of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) Constitution
especially as regards old-age benefits.
In other words, the said situation places informal-sector workers in a
precarious state since they cannot benefit from the social-security rights
enjoyed by their colleagues of the formal sector.
3.4
Training
Rights
These
rights are very important in vocational circles, especially in the informal
sector, a sector in which they enable both the employer and employee to update
their skills through pre-employment training, on-the-job training and
post-employment training. The various aspects of training, at this level,
include sensitization campaigns, seminars, etc, which are aimed at stepping up
the financial and managerial empowerment in the informal sector.
Unfortunately,
apart from a few structures such as PIAASI and NEF which have been organizing a
few sensitization campaigns, seminars and training sessions in some regions in
Cameroon, at the level of the informal sector, most of the actors of this
sector are deprived of training opportunities. They operate or work in a less
streamlined and an unprofessional manner because of a conspicuous lack of
adequate vocational training. This situation grossly violates the convention on
Human Resources Development, a convention which highlights, inter alia,
vocational training and guidance.
4. RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1 Short-term Recommendations
At the
short-term level, the rights of informal-sector actors could be improved upon
in several ways. This could be done by the State, informal-sector associations
and the said actors themselves.
The State could ensure that the
contractual rights of those working in the informal sector are guaranteed by
the 1992 Labour Code.
It could also ensure that seminars, sensitization campaigns, etc, involving
informal-sector actors are regularly organized by its institutions working in
the informal sector so as to continuously empower these actors both financially
and economically. Lastly, it could ensure that the social-security rights in
the sector are respected. This could be done by State Inspectors who must be in
constant touch with the sector for inspection purposes.
Informal-sector
institutions and workers could devise short-term coping methods or strategies
so as to brave the hurdles they are now experiencing. To this end, the example
of Swazi domestic workers could be emulated. These workers, who, in practical
terms, are not protected by legal systems of labour, have adopted many coping
strategies in the cities in which they work in order to take care of their
families and protect their dignity.
4.2
Long-term
Recommendations
At the
long-term level, the rights of informal-sector operators could be better
protected and promoted through the setting up of new institutions to that effect
and the restructuring of some existing ones for purposes of involving the
protection of informal-sector rights in their activities. These structures
could exist both at the public and private levels.
At the
public level, the State could restructure the National Social Insurance Fund
(NSIF) so as to enable it to take into consideration the social-security rights
of informal-sector workers. Furthermore, new institutions such as an
institution for informal-sector training applying a programme similar to the
Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) Programme in South
Africa could be created. Lastly, a Department for Informal Sector Activities
could be set up in municipal councils for the training and organization of
informal-sector actors.
At the
private level, employers and employees of the informal sector could ensure that
it is well organized through the setting up or restructuring of viable and
resourceful associations which could better organize and streamline activities
in the sector. In this connection, the capacity of bodies such as ANESCAM and
ANOSILP as well as that of any informal-sector body which is about to be set
up, should be built substantially by international non-governmental
institutions such as Women in Informal Sector: Mobilizing and Organizing
(WIEGO). This institution is a global network of activists, researchers and
policy makers concerned with the improvement of the status of women in the
informal sector. It is the informal-sector associations with a well-built capacity
that would set up the viable and resourceful associations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A)
ARTICLES
1)
Jonas
Tchakoa, “The Role of the Informal
Economic Sector (IES) in African Urban Economics During Economic Crisis and
Liberalisation: The Case of Yaounde
City” in Kengne Fodouop and Alain Metton (eds), Economie Informelle et Développement dans
les Pays du Sud à l’Ere de la Mondialisation (2000), Yaounde, Presses
Universitaires de Yaounde
B)
INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
2)
Convention on Human Resources Development [(C142) /1975]
3)
Convention
on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize
[(87)/1948]
4)
Minimum Wage Fixing Convention [(C131) /1970]
5)
International Social Security Association
(ISSA) Constitution
C) NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
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Cite this Article: Kijem Yuh, J (2019). The Rights of Informal-Sector Workers in
Cameroon. Greener Journal of Social Sciences, 9(2): 52-56, https://doi.org/10.15580/GJSS.2019.2.071019134.
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