By Alieu Amara Suwu
Performing one of his functions as the Minister of Finance, which is to present a financial year budget to Parliament, Dennis K. Vandi, Minister of Finance, has said in the Chambers of Parliament on the 11 November 2022 that the Government wage bill for 2023 is projected at NLe 4.8 billion (7.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)) compared to NLe4.3 billion (8.1 per cent of GDP) in 2022.
Minister Vandi said the increase in the nominal wage bill provides for Government’s commitment to a 45% increase in salaries for teachers for the next three years, starting with an annual increase of 15% in January 2023; the final 25% increase in salaries for the security sector, as pronounced in the 2021 budget speech, implying that the security sector would have received a 75% increase from 2021 to 2023; recruitment of 2,000 Police Officers as follows; 1,000 effective January 2023 and another 1,000 effective March 2023; the recruitment of 500 health workers, which is part of the delayed recruitment for the FY2022 quota; recruitment for the newly created sub-vented agencies- National Land Commission, National Cyber security Coordinating Centre, Consumer Protection Commission, Wages and Compensation Commission and one Foreign Mission (UNESCO Desk Paris); and payment of gratuities for the Leadership and Members of Parliament, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and Foreign Diplomats in March 2023.
On the management of the wage bill, he said Government’s objective in the medium term is to attain a sustainable wage bill level of 6.0% of GDP. He added that in recent years, pressures on the wage bill resulted from persistent in-year requests for recruitments, promotions, and salary adjustments from Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs); recruitments and promotions implemented by MDAs without prior concurrence from the Ministry of Finance; wage demands by various categories of the payroll due to the economic climate; creation of new Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Foreign Missions to support Government’s development agenda; and rapid exchange rate depreciation, which has impacted the cost of Foreign Missions’ payroll and other categories that receive foreign denominated allowances.
Vandi noted that, despite these pressures, the transparency and reliability of the payroll has improved, as evidenced in our performance on the wage bill-related indicators in the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Assessment. He hence said the focus now is to bring the wage bill to a sustainable level, adding that, building on going payroll reforms, Government will develop a Medium-term Wage Bill Management Strategy that will introduce additional reforms to strengthen payroll controls and management; continue to pursue the establishment of the Wages and Compensation Commission to address the wage disparities in the Government payroll and ensure fairness, equity and transparency in the determination of public sector wages.
Improving governance, he said Government’s public financial management reforms have been on a foundation of transparency, accountability, and system strengthening for good governance. So he noted that he is pleased to report that those reforms are yielding positive outcomes, as evidenced by Sierra Leone’s improved performance across multiple public financial management assessments, including the World Bank’s Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA), the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Assessment (PEFA), the Open Budget Survey and the MCC Scorecard. Building on existing reforms, in 2023, he also noted that Government will take action to strengthen the financial independence of the Audit Service Sierra Leone, accelerate the implementation of the Auditor-General’s recommendations and improve the performance and governance of State-Owned Enterprises, including State-Owned Banks.
