Unpaid government workers unable to pay the rent or feed their kids

Government workers in Guinea Bissau are being evicted from their homes and are unable to feed their children after going three months without receiving any wages. Teachers are suffering most and some have not been paid by the government for as long as nine months. “I’m ashamed before my family,” school teacher Mamadu Toure told IRIN. “Every day I go to work, but at the end of the month I receive nothing. It’s been nine months now since I received a single cent. It’s by the grace of God and my brother that I get by.” Toure is lucky to receive financial assistance from family members, but told IRIN that other teacher friends had been thrown out of their rented accommodation as they could not pay the rent. Other government workers said that they could not feed their children. Guinea Bissau is the fifth poorest country in the world according to the UN’s human development index. Although agriculture is the mainstay of the Guinea Bissau economy, lack of investment and years of instability and war have left the country a net food importer. Lima da Costa, head of the Guinea Bissau National Workers Union, at a press conference in the capital Bissau this week accused the government of Prime Minister Aristide Gomes of “arrogance” and of lacking the capacity to deal with the country’s problems. “When the government cannot pay workers' wages one is forced to admit that the situation is very serious. The only way out that I can see is that an appeal is launched to the international community to save the country from a food crisis,” said da Costa. Da Costa called for demonstrations in the seafront capital Bissau to denounce what he called the “famine” that has gripped the country. According to Da Costa many people are going hungry and children are unable to attend school as parents can’t afford even minimal school fees. On Tuesday the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launched an urgent appeal for US $3.64 million appeal for Guinea Bissau. However, the funds are primarily destined to help people in the north of the country, suffering the after affects of a spate of fighting along the shared Senegal, Guinea Bissau border. Nelson Sano told IRIN that the situation of government functionaries such as himself was very precarious. “The government must pay our salaries as soon as possible,” he said. “If not, the situation will become very grave for many families.”