By Nasratu Kargbo
Actionaid Sierra Leone has demanded that the government ensures the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) advice to decrease the wage bill by 6% of the GDP, does not affect the recruitment and placement of health workers and teachers.
Speaking on the 28th July 2023 at the launch of their report titled ‘IMF wage bill ceiling and the Sierra Leonean’s right to adequate frontline workers’, Actionaid’s Policy and Advocacy Manager, Aminata Kelly- Lamin reading the report stated that the sectors are very essential in the development of the nation and that if the government is to heed to that condition, she said it may affect the two sectors.
She explained that in a bid to improve the education and health sectors, the government needs to hire more public workers in those sectors, but noted that the 6% ceiling that IMF has advised the government to spend on wages will not be enough to take care of personnel in those two sectors.
“The education system in Sierra Leone lacks the required number of qualified teachers in relation to rapidly increase enrolment”, she said. She explained that the government’s 2018 Free Quality School Education (FQSE) policy gave the opportunity for more participation, noting that the drastic expansion of access to education made the government to hire more teachers, but was quick to note that the country has not met the internationally accepted teacher-pupil ratio.
Whilst for the health sector, she said they believe that health workers must be trained, experienced and have the skills to implement Universal Health Care (UHC), she stated that to achieve that, healthcare staff must be aligned with the needs of the population, saying there should be increased levels of specialized education and training in order to meet the required of health care system.
“All of the above difficulties demand hiring more teachers and health workers, and paying them properly, which increases the wage bill”, Kelly-Lamin stated. She said IMF loans always include macroeconomic conditions that government must abide by.
Head of Programme and Policy, Actionaid, Mohamed Fofanah said that wages are instrumental in the standard of living of the average Sierra Leonean.
He said the IMF had told the government not to exceed 6% of the public wage bill of its public servants, but Fofanah said those in the education and health sectors are very important in ensuring that the country’s citizens are better off.
Fofanah said a salary is to respond to the basic necessities of life such as food, transportation, shelter amongst others.
He said if the wage bill as per the country’s GDP, indicate that the teachers, doctors and nurses should not get more, they believe that services will not be up to standard and quality will drop drastically in the sectors.
Responding to the question why they focused on these two sectors, Fofanah said they are the most prominent, adding that he believes those areas should be improved for the country’s progress and development, and also to meet international standard.
He said in a bid to increase wages and salaries for the two sectors, Sierra Leoneans should make it their responsibility to expand their tax base, increase productivity, block leakages and reduce or eradicate corruption, noting that once this is done, the country will experience growth in income and reduced lending from international community.
According to the report: “52% of teachers at 56 government and government-assisted schools do not receive government pay. This supports the school census’ that indicates 28% volunteers rate for public school teachers”.
It added that 87% of teachers are men whilst 13% are women. It further stated that their data showed that the country has more qualified male as compared to women, with men rated 86% and women teachers at 14%.
The report added that the government should develop a plan and implement a bread basket to include remote allowances for frontline health workers.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (31/07/23)
