By: Saidu Jalloh
The executive of the Wages and Compensation Commission (WCC) held a high-level engagement with the staff of the Health Service Commission (HSC) on October 3rd, 2024, at the HSC office.
The engagement’s purpose was to build a relationship between the two institutions and to inform HSC about the WCC’s work.
Welcoming officials from WCC, the Deputy Secretary of HSC, Madam Esther Sovula, reminded the WCC delegation that health workers in remote villages are working with just their basic salaries and without allowances. She hoped that the WCC would soon address the health workers’ condition of service.
HSC Chairman Dr. Anthony A. Sandi said he had been receiving complaints of disparity in salaries from health workers. He hoped that with the existence of WCC, the issue of inequity in salaries would be a thing of the past.
In his statement, WCC Chairman Hon. Alpha Osman Timbo expressed his conviction that if workers come together to support the Commission’s work, they will quickly succeed in fulfilling their mandate.
He said that “the issue of salary distortion in the public sector is so grave that there is a need for something to be done.”
“WCC Act made provision for three main issues: to harmonize the public sector pay system to reflect equity and merit, to ensure that the salary structure of the public sector is streamlined and provides for other related matters,” he said.
Hon. Timbo ended up reminding the public about President Julius Maada Bio’s Big Five Game Changers in the New Direction manifesto, saying every government institution has an obligation to periodically review those commitments to see how institutions fit in and ensure that what the President promised manifests in the lives of the people of Sierra Leone.
The engagement included a detailed presentation by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of WCC, Mr. David W.S Banya, on the Commission’s mandate, powers, and functions.
The Wages and Compensation Commission is responsible for determining Wages and Compensation for public sector employees, harmonizing the public sector pay system to reflect equity and merit, and making provisions for other related matters.
