By Sulaiman Jalloh

Parliament has ordered the physical verification of about thirty-three staff on Monday, January 20^th, 2025, or risk deletion of their names from the government payroll. The order was made on Friday, January 17, 2025, by Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament who also chairs the parliamentary Public Account Committee (PAC) in an ongoing hearing on the 2023 Auditor General report.

The Human Resources Management Office (HRMO) was summoned after the PAC noticed a payroll discrepancy involving a total annual pay of Three Million, Sixty-Teven thousand, Nine Hundred and Eleven Leones (NLe 3,067,911).

According to the PAC, some staff could not be verified by auditors, citing other anomalies like contract extension after retirement, payment of study leave without due approval, no bonding timeline and payment of arrears without deduction of PAYE (pay as you earn) taxes.

The Public Account Committee resolved that they would have engagements with the Secretary to President, the Head of Civil Service and the Accountant General to resolve the issues.

On contract extension, the PAC is of the view that the jobs should be given to young, energetic and qualified Sierra Leoneans, save for some technical personnel.

The Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, made a plea to the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) and the main opposition All People’s Congress Party (APC) party to hold frank discussions and come out with a road map for the development and progress of Sierra Leone. This road map, he said, should be implemented through and through by any of the two major parties in governance without deviations.

As one of the pillars in the national development agenda (Big Five Game Changers) of President Bio’s government is revamping the civil service architecture for efficient and effective service delivery, Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh called for depoliticization of the civil service, discipline, fair recruitments and merit-based promotions devoid of political considerations.