The salaries of heads of government Agencies revealed on the social media are too bizarre to be true. Indeed Sierra Leone is a land of iron and diamond benefiting only a selected cabal. It is curious to know how these salaries were fixed and who was responsible for their fixing. When you consider the lower rungs of the remuneration ladder you begin to wonder whether we are all in the same republic.
In a proper state emoluments are based on schedules but in banana republic they are politicized with workers doing the same quantum of work earning several times less than the emoluments of the well-connected. It will be seen on class examination that Permanent Secretaries, heads of government departments and principals of Secondary Schools as well as Professors in academia do not get matching emoluments. Equity of schedule and emolument is not considered ‘’Den say Bailor Barrie you say Davidson Nicol ‘’ applies here. The APC government demeaned education and its benefits.
If heads of Parastatals can benefit from such largess what do we expect from State House the fountain of all the good? Certainly that is the place where sinecures abound. The sacking of more than one hundred idlers at State House was therefore in place. The story is told of a journalist who went to State House and complained to President Koroma that he was hungry. The President then checked his drawers and gave the Journalist an amount with which he bought a second hand Mercedes Benz car. This shows that the Head of State has unaccountable amounts to disburse as he cares.
This brings us to an odorous comparison with government pensioners including retired Brigadiers who are given Le 70,000 (Seventy thousand Leones) after serving for over 20 years. The question should be repeated whether these pensioners and that 1st class and the hoipolloi are in the same republic.
In this regard President Bio has to demonstrate beyond all reasonable doubt that indeed Sierra Leone is moving in the New Direction or else it will be the same cassada soup as usual. It is necessary as a matter of urgency to slash these exorbitant salaries if we are to have any pretence of living in an egalitarian society.
We cannot continue to have oligarchs living on the fat of the land while others are hewers of wood and drawers of water. The gap should be reflected in the next budget without fail. President Bio can take revolutionary measures even beyond those of the Tanzanian President who was not even an ex- military officer.
The whole nauseating scenario shows us the benefits of change. Without a change of regime we would never have known of such societal injustices. Let President Bio redirect us now!
Below are the salaries of these Heads of Parastatals who were enjoying while a massive number of Sierra Leoneans cannot afford a meal per day and were living in penury.
- Salpost Managing Director – Monthly Salary Le 74 Million and Yearly Le 888 Million
- NASSIT Director General –Monthly salary Le 66 Million and Yearly salary Le 792 million
- Anti-Corruption Commissioner –Monthly Salary Le 62 Million & Yearly salary Le 744 Million
- NRA Commissioner General –Le 55 Million & Yearly Salary Le 660 million
- EPA Executive Chairperson – Le 52 Million & Yearly salary Le 624 Million
- NASSIT 2 Director Generals Le 50 X2 Million & Le 1.2 billion Leones
- Road Maintenance Fund Administration Le 44 Million & Yearly salary Le 528 Million
- MARITIME Executive Director Le 44 Million & Le 588 million
- Petroleum Executive Director Le 44 Million & Le 528 Million
- NRA Management Adviser Le 38 Million & Yearly Salary Le 456 Million
To be continued. We will bring you more details.