In Cameroon, The Math Doesn't Add Up

The goverment of Cameroon recently announced, to much excitement in the country, that 25,000 people are needed to fill various positions in Cameroon's civil service. I remember when Cameroon's civil service was described as too costly in the 1990s and the government was forced by the IMF to reduce the size of the civil service. But that was a long, long time ago and the economics that applied then does not apply now. So Cameroon's government believes it is okay to increase the size of the civil service because it has choked the private sector. What this desire to increase the size of the civil service has done is that it has given hope to many jobless Cameroonians that they have a shot at a stable job. So they have applied. Over 300,000 people have applied for 25,000 jobs. If Paul Biya was under any illusion about the unemployment picture in Cameroon, the number of people who have applied for these position should leave him in no doubt about the situation. If over 300,000 people have applied for 25,000 jobs, it means that at least 300,000 people out there need a job, 12 times the number of jobs currently available! This does not include those who were disqulaified from applying for these jobs, like those over 40 years old or those who have simply dispaired of ever finding a job in Cameroon. And considering the way Paul Biya's praise is being sung about the elusive prospects of these 25,000 jobs, it does not appear that there are plans to create more jobs, either in the public or private sector. Considering the magnitude of the unemployment situation in Cameroon, these 25,000 jobs are only a drop in the bucket, one of the greatest scams Biya has ever pulled on Cameroonians. However, Biya has figured out that poor people always play the lottery in hopes of winning big one day. Thus, he keeps dangling the the prospect of a better life at Cameroonians while he grows his own wealth. It is a sad situation over there in Cameroon.