Burkina Faso: dismissed workers received by the Minister of National Reconciliation
A market in Ouagadougou.
(Drawing).
© ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
There are more than 7,000 Burkinabè workers, made redundant after the privatization and liquidation of their company following the implementation of the structural adjustment program under the regime of former President Blaise Compaoré.
They are still struggling to regain their rights.
Some were received this Friday, May 14 in Ouagadougou by the Minister of National Reconciliation.
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With our correspondent in Ouagadougou,
Yaya Boudani
These former workers came to explain their precarious situation and their expectations to Zéphirin Diabré, Minister of National Reconciliation. For nearly two hours, around forty representatives of ex-workers, from companies that have undergone privatization, pleaded for their situation to be taken into account before any national reconciliation process.
In 1989, Jean Marie Kodié and 800 other workers found themselves unemployed after the dissolution and privatization of RAN, the agency responsible for operating the railway connecting Côte d'Ivoire to Burkina Faso. "
These massive layoffs have been carried out under dire conditions, he
says
.
The loss of employment for the majority of deflated workers, after more than twenty years of service, was the main trigger for the loss of purchasing power.
This is what the latter expected the least since they had the guarantee of employment, in a society of great sovereignty, such as the railways.
"
"
Children thrown into the street, children out of school and
even cases of suicide
"
About forty public companies suffered the same fate, following the application of the structural adjustment program.
More than 7,000 people thus found themselves without a job and without a support plan, according to Karim Niakara, president of the National Association of Deflated Workers.
He believes that reconciliation must also pass the recovery of their rights.
“
Children thrown into the streets, children who have dropped out of school and
even cases of suicide… So, in this situation, we cannot speak of national reconciliation if the cases of these deflated workers are not dealt with.
"
As the files are already being processed at the level of the High Council for National Reconciliation - the institution responsible for their management - Minister of State Zéphirin Diabré promises to look into the proposals that will be made for diligent implementation.
Read also: Burkina Faso: soaring prices and fines during Ramadan
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