By Amin Kef Sesay
In a statement released on the 23rd June 2020, the Ministry of Finance has approved payment of monthly salaries and end of service benefits for Mayors, Chairpersons and their Deputies and an increment of remuneration for Chief Administrators and Councillors.
This new development has been regarded by many as a novelty in the history of decentralization in Sierra Leone. It could be recalled that since the re-introduction of Local Government in 2004 that led to the establishment of Local Councils, Chairmen and Mayors who worked full time they were only paid allowances with no salary or no end of service benefit compared to other public sector officials.
In order to get rid of this anomaly, the Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa in the Government Budget and Statement of Economic and Financial Policies for the Financial Year 2020, effected the payment of salaries for the Mayors/ Chairperson and their Deputies.
In the breakdown of the payment to the various Council Administrators, the total remuneration for Mayors/Chairmen has increased from Le50.2 million per month to Le374 million per month or from Le601.9 million per annum to Le4.49 billion. Also, the monthly remuneration to Deputy Mayors/Chairmen has increased to Le264 million from Le48 million or Le3.17 billion per annum from Le575.5 million.
Furthermore, total monthly allowances to Councillors has increased to Le630 million from Le420 million or from Le5.04 billion to Le7.56 billion per annum. Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa stated that salaries for Mayors/ Chairpersons and their Deputies have increased and salaries of core staff of Councils have also increased to Le15.16 billion per annum from Le5.94 billion per annum. In the same vein, salaries to Paramount Chiefs/Regents and Chiefdom Speakers is now Le18.46 billion per annum from Le7.47 billion per annum.
The Finance Minister underscored that it is important to note that these policy actions are consistent with the Government’s strategy to improve governance by deepening decentralization and strengthening Local and Chiefdom Councils. “President Julius Maada Bio has emphasized the need for payment of salaries to various workers and these actions are fully aligned with the People’s Manifesto upon which the Government was elected, ” the Minister added and continued that this recent action is expected to boost the morale of Local and Chiefdom Council functionaries and positively impact on local service delivery which is a key strategy of Government.
