In 2024, the Civil Service of the Democratic Republic of Congo is preparing for a major change with the retirement of at least 10,000 agents. This announcement was made by Jean-Pierre Lihau, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in charge of the Civil Service, during the meeting of the Council of Ministers in Kisangani.
This process of retiring career agents of the State services for the 2024 financial year follows an initiative approved by the Council of Ministers in July of the same year. The suspension of this process in 2023 due to the imperatives related to the elections and the security situation has been lifted, and a corresponding budget envelope has been allocated for this operation.
To ensure a smooth transition, a service note was issued to take into account recent personnel movements and give priority to agents wishing to retire. More than 10,000 Congolese should thus be able to retire by the end of the year.
In the National Education sector, a collaboration with the French Development Agency (AFD) is envisaged for the financing of end-of-career allowances for nearly 5,000 teachers. Discussions are underway to define the terms of this financial support.
This retirement operation is a continuation of a previous phase launched in 2022, which concerned more than a thousand senior executives in the public administration. This time, the objective is to finalize the third wave of retirements. An envelope of 266.5 billion CDF was allocated as part of the 2024 Finance Act to carry out this program.
This process of renewing the workforce of the Civil Service offers the opportunity to rejuvenate government structures and open up new perspectives for the recruitment of young talent. Effectively managing this mass retirement will be a challenge for the authorities, but also an opportunity to modernize the administration and breathe new dynamism into public services.
In conclusion, this wave of retirements marks an important step in the transformation of the Congolese civil service. It underlines the government’s desire to renew its workforce, modernize its services and ensure a smooth transition for the agents concerned.