Can the end of an administrative contract conceal a collective dismissal? This is, in essence, the question raised by the situation of 59 employees of the Institut des sciences et techniques de la communication (ISTC Polytechnique) in Abidjan, whose professional future hinges on the December 2026 deadline.
A ten-year contract reaching its end
For about ten years, ISTC Polytechnique has outsourced the management of some of its jobs to the Société de prestation de services divers (SIPSD). This choice falls, according to the institution’s management, within a framework of compliance with civil service regulations applicable to Ivorian public institutions. The contractual relationship will end in December 2026, which raises the question of what will become of the 59 employees concerned from January 2027 onwards.
The Afriques newsletter
- Free & no spam
- 1 email per day
- Unsubscribe in 1 click
A press article having presented this deadline as a “brutal decision to dismiss 59 employees” prompted management to publish a right of reply on its website on 1 October 2026. It directly contests this wording, recalling that the termination does not stem from a decision taken directly against the employees, but from the expiry of a B2B contract between two legal entities: ISTC Polytechnique and SIPSD.
A legal distinction with very concrete effects
The distinction put forward by the institution is legally valid: the employees concerned are technically employed by SIPSD, and not by ISTC. The end of the service contract therefore does not trigger, in this framework, the legal obligations of a collective redundancy plan on the part of the public institution. This is precisely what management seeks to establish.
The fact remains that, in practice, these 59 people have been carrying out their duties within ISTC Polytechnique for, in some cases, a decade. The boundary between the cessation of services and job loss becomes thin when the assignment is continuous, the premises are the same, and the de facto economic employer is identical. This type of arrangement — common in African public institutions that resort to subcontracting to circumvent the constraints of civil service status — is precisely what labour legislation is increasingly seeking to regulate.
“Possibilities” being examined, with no announced guarantees
According to management, information and awareness-raising activities have been conducted since August 2026 with the employees in order to prepare them for this transition. The institution also indicates that it is examining “the possibilities that may be offered to employees,” taking into account their profiles, qualifications and skills, as well as the institution’s needs — and in strict compliance with legal provisions.
These cautious formulations, while reflecting a willingness to engage in dialogue, do not constitute firm commitments. The statement mentions neither the number of employees who could be reinstated or repositioned, nor the concrete terms of a possible transition, nor the decision-making timeline. For the 59 employees, uncertainty remains complete three months before the deadline.
What this situation reveals
Beyond the case of ISTC Polytechnique, this affair illustrates a structural tension in human resources management within public institutions in Côte d’Ivoire and, more broadly, in francophone Africa: the lasting use of service companies to manage staff whose work is inseparable from the public service, while avoiding the constraints of civil servant status. When these contracts reach their end, the question of the social responsibility of the public institution inevitably arises.
ISTC Polytechnique reaffirms its commitment “to respect for the rights of individuals, to dialogue and to the search for appropriate solutions.” The credibility of this commitment will be measured by the concrete decisions that will be made before January 2027.
Source: AIP (Agence Ivoirienne de Presse), 3 October 2026
