In a national address made Sunday to mark the second an niversary of his coming to power, Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, President of the
Union of the Comoros, outlined his project for the revival of his country’ priva t e sector on the basis of deductions on salaries paid to civil servants.
Sambi announced that his government planned to deduct a certain percentage of ea ch civil servant’s salary to raise capital for various companies.
“Interested parties will not only become shareholders in these societies, but ne w job opportunities would also be created for the younger population”, he also h i nted.
The Comoran leader further indicated that one of the companies to be set up as a matter of urgency would be the air transport company. There is currently no air l ine in the country.
“I have instructed the minister of Finance and his colleague in Transport, to ex amine the proposal”, which will apparently be urgently implemented, the Comoran l eader stressed.
However, Sambi also declared that the salaries of high officials (president’s of fice, the Union and islands’ governments, MPs, advisors and others) will be redu c ed, considering that they are “too high”, in comparison with the amount of work d one.
According to Sambi, the institutions of the Union of the Comoros, which comprise four presidents (one for the Union and one for each of the three islands), four
governments, four parliaments and a host of advisors at all levels are “far too c ostly” for the finances of the Comoros.
He, however, did not specify if he intended to revise the Constitution in order to reduce costs.
