{"id":30935,"date":"2023-02-01T17:00:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T17:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/pres-weah-admits-to-paying-15k-civil-servants-less"},"modified":"2023-02-01T18:20:09","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T18:20:09","slug":"pres-weah-admits-to-paying-15k-civil-servants-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/pres-weah-admits-to-paying-15k-civil-servants-less","title":{"rendered":"Pres. Weah Admits to Paying 15K Civil Servants Less"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. <\/strong><\/span>President George Weah has admitted that his administration is \u2018paying some public sector workers wages\u2019 that are far below the country\u2019s minimum wage standard.<\/p>\n

Weah’s admission comes as a surprise, given that he had not addressed such an issue until now when he is running for re-election. The numbers of people affected, according to the president, amount to some 15,000 government employees whose monthly salary remains below the country’s minimum wage of US$150 dollars.<\/p>\n

Weah however sought to reframe the narrative, claiming that he had not been aware of the issue throughout his nearly six years in office, while announcing a solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs domestic revenue improves, we remain committed to enhancing the welfare of Government workers. I have been informed that some 15,000 Government workers still make below the minimum wage of US$150 dollars, as mandated by the Decent Work Act,\u201d the Liberian leader said while addressing the nation on January 30.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is completely unacceptable. No Government worker should make below the minimum wage mandated by public law. I have therefore directed that, as part of the 2023 budget, the wages for all such workers be raised at or above the minimum wage. I am informed that the cost to achieve this is estimated at US$6 million annually.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president noted that despite the issue, his administration had rectified the nation’s flawed and unjust wage structure, which compensated public employees without any clear norms or pay grades for years, saying that the fix saw 15,000 civil servants receiving higher salaries, while some 7,000 paid were adjusted downward.<\/p>\n

According to section 16.1 of the Decent Work Act, every Liberian working in both private and public institutions is entitled to a minimum wage of US$0.68 per hour or US$5.50 per day.<\/p>\n

Signed into law by president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2011, the Decent Work Act is the country’s first labor law since the 1950s, which explicitly promotes workers rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro-Tempore, and Distinguished Members of the 54th National Legislature, as we accelerate the discussion for the 2023 National Budget, I urge you to make the securing of this amount of US$6 million dollars for these 15,000 workers one of your highest priorities,\u201d Weah in his speech.<\/p>\n

The President’s revelation comes after public sector employees at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) last year protested over low salaries and poor working conditions.<\/p>\n

Striking workers said some employees are making as low as US$45 as salaries, while their demand for salary increments have not been met.<\/p>\n

In response, the Ministry noted that the long-standing issue of salary disparities at the ministry was not sufficiently addressed by the Weah administration when it launched its salary harmonization process in 2019. MICAT claimed that the process did not account for people who previously earned less than the designated government wage standard.<\/p>\n

Also, the admission by the president comes after the General Auditing Commission in a report noted that the pay-grade harmonization initiative of the government was not comprehensively implemented across all entities, leaving some employees earning below the above and established pay-grades while others have no established pay-grade.<\/p>\n

The GAC found that 3,970 people, or 5.9% of government employees across 80 ministries and agencies, were receiving more than the harmonized pay-grade projected salary, with a total monthly differential of US$581,439.15.<\/p>\n

The study also said that 32,759 people, or 48.7% of civil servants in government across 90 government entities, were receiving less than the harmonized pay-grade projected salary, with a total monthly disparity of US$5,710,026.97.<\/p>\n

While a total of 25,162 employees representing 37.4% of civil servants in government across 97 ministries and agencies did not have pay grades.<\/p>\n

The GAC further said that some ministries and agencies made arbitrary increments in the net salaries of some workers, while payrolls were reconciled periodically. FrontPage Africa was the first to report on the GAC report findings.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Liberia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. President George Weah has admitted that his administration is \u2018paying some public sector workers wages\u2019 that are far below the country\u2019s minimum wage standard. Weah’s admission comes as a surprise, given that he had not addressed such an issue until now when he is running for re-election. The numbers of people affected, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":30933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-30935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-liberia","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"\nPres. 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