Yaoundé, Cameroon (PANA) – Cameroonian trade unionist, René Bernard Ekédi, has asked the government to impose a tax worth 50 FCFA on each bottle of beer sold to fund the struggle against HIV/Aids in the country, indicating that about 12 million of bottle of beers are consumed yearly in Cameroon.
He was speaking Thursday at a Labour Day celebration in Yaounde on the theme: “Workers in Cameroon, unite against HIV/aids”, as a representative of several trade unions assembled under the banner of “Intersyndical”.
Another trade unionist, Jean Marie Zambo Amougou, said the signature of an agreement between the employers and the Public Health Ministry for the treatment of HIV/aids is a good initiative.
He invited the trade unionists to devote themselves to the problems of refugees who are coming in big numbers into Cameroon, forced to leave their jobs in their respective countries.
Also speaking at the event, the Cameroonian Labour and Social Security Minister, Grégoire Owona, said he was not interfering into the works of other departments “but helping in the struggle against stigmatization that affects people infected by HIV in their workplace.”
Several other trade unionists spoke on the bad working conditions in Cameroon, with Isaac Bissala, from the General Confederation of Workers, condemning illegal jobs that are increasing in the country and denounced poverty among the workers.
He said workers were not able to clothe themselves decently, have no access to water and electricity and to the internet.
Bissala also denounced the rising costs of living in Cameroon where the guaranteed minimal wage is about 28,500 FCFA.
