State-owned Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel) said it will provide the government with digital services as the country deploys new software valued at 955-miillion CFA to manage HR functions and payroll of civil servants.

Camtel General Manager Judith Yah Sunday Achidi and the Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms Joseph Le entered into a formal agreement this month.

The agreement originates from a May 2022 visit by the Minister to Camtel’s Tier III datacentre in Zamengoe.

Under the deal, Camtel will provide the government department with secure and redundant connections to the internet, and high-speed interconnection through dedicated fibre optic or radio link.

The telecommunications company will also make available a data security solution andprovide the Ministry with access to various services offered through its datacentre constructed by Huawei.

The service delivery has been negotiated to support the government’s roll out of a new human capital resource management platform, the Computer System for the Integrated Management of State Personnel and Payroll (SIGIPES II).

Achidi said the government of Cameroon has invested significantly to establish the datacentre and other IT infrastructure, and as a state-owned enterprise, it was incumbent on them to galvanise efforts to help digitalise the country’s economy.

SIGIPES II has been rolled out in an attempt to address challenges with previous personnel management systems, notable among which was data inconsistency breeding multiple registrations.

The new system will help manage public servants, their career profiles and salaries at local level and at centralised government/ state level.