By: Problyn J. Alpha
With the much gains reported to have been achieved in 2022, the Government of Sierra Leone is said to have privatized the Sierra Leone Road Safety authority (SLRSA) to a private company dubbed as Autospect.
According to the Media Officer one of the Sierra Leone Road safety Authority south Michel A. Feika, confirmed that the information making the rounds about the privatization of the Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority is true.
He maintained that the authority in 2022 made a lot of achievements in terms of licenses as it was able to change the driver’s licenses to a digital or barometric one which according to him can be used internationally.
He pointed that the authority was also able to digitalize the number plates system and that the future of the digitalized number plates as compare to the previous one is very securitized. He further explained that the above named institution also succeeded.
He said the decentralization system of driver’s license which before now was only centralized in the national capital Freetown, has succeeded in decentralizing the system in Bo, Kenema and Makeni to cushion the challenges drives encountered. Responding to the rumor of the privatization of SLRSA, Michel A. Feika confirmed that, the government of Sierra Leone has privatized the aforesaid institution to Autospect Company and its set to officially take over the authority.
Talking on the retention of staff who were working for the authority before the privatization process, the public relations officer SLRSA South, stated that they are yet to confirm whether Ortospect will retain those staff or not. He however, expressed hope that they would likely come with their own staff as the whole authority has been contracted to them.
Michel A. Feika stated that he is not certain if it will affect their organogram because the Executive Director and the Deputy Director of the Authority are still retained. He also said Line Managers and Directors are going to be retained.
He added that the authority will still operate under the auspices of the Government of Sierra Leone. He edified that the license area would be contracted to the Autospect Company. “As Road Safety Corps of the Sierra Leone we will continue to be the eyes of the authority at national level, because even Autospect Company has made a lot of promises to ease our operations. Without SLRSA Road Safety Corps, it will be difficult for Autospect to achieve its goals”, he concluded.