BUJUMBURA November 19th (ABP) – The Cabinet met on Wednesday November 13, 2019 with 11 items on the agenda, according to the statement issued by the General Secretary of the Government.

Among the items on the agenda was the bill of a fair wage policy in the Burundi public administration.

According to the statement, the diagnosis made in terms of the remuneration of State civil servants and civil agents shows that it contains many disparities caused by a multiplicity of bonuses and indemnities granted in a categorical way and which are not often in conformity with those provided for by the Service Regulations, the existence of index benefits granted to certain categories of civil servants from the time of recruitment and the case of personalized administrations of the State which, in the name of their autonomy, are free to fix the remuneration of their servants.

According to the statement, this situation has created frustrations for certain categories of civil servants that have led to repeated demands for wage harmonization. Faced with this situation, an interim solution was found with the creation of a wage adjustment compensation in 2016 with a budget of 20 billion per year for a period of 4 years. The 2020 deadline has been set for a wage policy to re-establish the basis for equitable and sustainable remuneration, which will definitively solve the problem, and it is this policy that is proposed in that bill.

The statement goes on to say that in developing that wage policy, the concern is, on the one hand, to rebuild a dynamic equity system for the remuneration of civil servants and, on the other hand, to accompany the reforms already undertaken.

According to the statement, this policy is based on the public sector’s performance management policy approved in 2014 and on the classification of jobs, services and occupations in the public administration provided for by the National Administration Reform Program which constitutes the basis of the innovations that the policy proposes.

The Cabinet had analyzed that bill and felt that it needed to be reworked to facilitate understanding.

After analyzing the reworked bill by the team that had been designated for that purpose, the Cabinet approved the technical amendment but with recommendation to continue the following stages including the financial resource.