Story, Louvier Kindo Tombe
Manga James fondly called ‘Mongo Park‘ had just returned from the farm when we arrived his two rooms apartment building at Etam Bafia, a ‘ghetto’ neighbourhood in Cameroon’s political capital Yaounde. He is on rents and lives with his wife and six children plus 2 grand children. When we approached the compound he asked us to give him five minutes to empty the contents of his harvest under a tree in front of the apartment. The 70 years old man doesn’t play with his farm produce.
“If I don’t work hard now, what will become of my children and grandchildren,” he said in a low tone.
Life has not been treating him well ever since his business crumbled. All his children have dropped out of school for lack of finances, and the girls are now helping their mother in her ‘petite trade’ in one of the food markets in Yaounde.
“This is not the life I wished for my family,” Manga James told News Upfront.
During his days as a business man, the native of Mbengwi in Momo Division of the North West region of Cameroon lived a fulfilled life thanks to benefits and advantages from his business. He was one of the first business men to sell building materials in the Etam Bafia neighborhood. ‘Mongo Park‘ did not in any instance picture that things could be this difficult one day.
“The greatest regret I have was not to plan for a better retirement by picking up a social insurance policy,” he said.
“At first, I knew that Insurance policies were only for civil servant, and not for business men like us.”
Just like Manga James, many are those in who still believe till today that insurance policies like social protection are meant only for civil servants. That is how life becomes unbearable when they are of age or run out of activity.
“Farming is what I now do to feed my family. My wife is the one taking care of our grand children, and she too is of age.”
As we discussed further, his landlord came asking for rents threatening to kick them out should they fail to pay.
“We owe four months, and I can only hope and pray that God shows a way because things are really tough for us at the moment,” he said.
Social protection is a set of policies and programmes designed to reduce and prevent poverty and vulnerability throughout the life-cycle. Social protection caters to nine main areas of need: child and family benefits, maternity protection, unemployment support, employment injury benefits, sickness benefits, health protection, old-age benefits, disability benefits and survivors’ benefits.
Until 2014, the social protection system in Cameroon covered only four social security benefits provided by the National Social Insurance Fund (NSIF): pensions; (disability, old age and survivors); family allowance; and employment injury. The NSIF system provided services for formal workers, especially those employed in the public service and state-owned enterprises.
Under this scheme, only a minute portion of the youth, salaried workers governed by the Labour Code and public workers (10% of the population) were theoretically covered ( CAMYOSFOP, 2017).
Independent workers and those in the informal sector were left out. With the rate of informality in Cameroon being as high as 89% the majority of the vulnerable population (informal workers) was left out.
Conscious of the insufficiency of the existing social security scheme, the Cameroon government took steps towards strengthening the scheme by extending coverage to informal workers through the National Voluntary Contribution Scheme in August 2014.
The National Voluntary Social Security Scheme
This social security scheme came in-to force through a Prime Ministerial Decree, laying down the terms and conditions of support for the voluntary contributors signed on 13 August 2014.The voluntary contribution scheme aims at increasing coverage across the population, considering the previous system was restricted to workers in the formal sector.
The scheme targets workers in the informal sector and self-employed covering the risk of old age, invalidity, and death – The basis for calculation is, the Minimum Wage of 36.270FCFA and beneficiaries are expected to contribute for a minimum of 15 years in order to benefit from the scheme.
When Manga James got information of the launch of the Voluntary Insurance Service, he still was very sceptical.
“As a business man, I saw 15 years as too much time to deposit my money with no direct interest,” Manga James said. “My focus was on making interest on a daily basis.”
According to International Labour Organization’s (ILO’s) report, two billion people –more than 61% of the worlds employed population make their living in the informal sector, with 93% in emerging and developing countries. Consequently, the majority of workers lack social protection and therefore, the right to decent work.
In Africa 85.8% of employment is informal. Coverage of the unemployed population in Africa is still 6% compared to Europe and Central Asia where coverage is about 43 percent. Given the important role the informal sector developing the economy, governments around the world are beginning to realize their responsibility to ensure that social protection is extended to the informal workers.
Despite constant explanations from insurance policy providers, Manga James still did not believe. The zeal to make quick cash was all over him.
“I was confident that I will safe my money in the bank and reap direct interest monthly to take care of my needs in the future,” he said.
The majority of those in the informal sector, especially in the rural areas are still not aware of the existence of the voluntary scheme. According to a survey carried out in Douala by an NGO, ‘Un Monde Avenir in 2020’, out of the 300 women sampled from the informal sector in three council areas, 73% were not aware that social security services exist.
Failing to Plan
Manga James was prominent in his business. His building materials shop had grown up and business was good. Little did he know that business accident could occur.
“My problems started when one morning, fire from nowhere consumed my shop alongside 17 other shops in Etam Bafia,” Manga recounts.
“Everything inside went off in flames including a huge loan I took from a bank and kept in the shop to use the next day.” “I had to sell my house to pay the loan. That is why you see me renting this small place here.”
Manga James did not construct in his native village Mbangwi while things were better. He has no plans to retire home anytime soon.
“How will my people look at me if i go home to my father’s house at this age,” Manga James asked.
Hope is Not Lost
Everybody knows that it is vital to provide for the certainties of life, such as their children’s future education or marriage, their retirement, or loss of future income due to death, disease, or disablement of the breadwinner, but the utilization of insurance products as a comprehensive tool for these certainties of life is less understood.
When you’re 70 or older, you may want to lay emphasis on life insurance. Finding affordable senior life insurance might feel harder than it did when you were younger. But no matter your age, insurance is an important way to help your loved ones cover the costs of your final expenses.
“I will advice those in the informal sector in Cameroon to take insurance policies seriously,” Manga said.
“You must not only work with the government to prepare for retirement.”
“it’s always a good idea to have life insurance, no matter your age,” An insurance agent in Yaounde revealed to News Upfront.
Insurance Experts believe that “If you retire with debt or have children or a spouse that is dependent on you, keeping life insurance is a good idea.”
