By Tabora Bojang
Amid widespread clamour for good pay for the rest of the civil servants at a time when the public is outraged by the purported fat wages of the executive, legislature and the judiciary, the minister of civil service Baboucarr Bouy has expressed hope before NAMs, that the salaries of civil servants will be increased if the government’s revenue situation improves.
Responding to a question from Serekunda lawmaker Musa Cham as to what plans government has to review the salary scale of civil and public servants to help them cushion the harsh economic conditions, Minister Bouy reported that his Ministry had reviewed the current integrated pay scale and introduced new pay scale options for consideration by the cabinet.
“One of these options was considered and approved by cabinet in November 2021 for possible implementation with effect from July 2022. However, due to its cost implications and the realization of a tight fiscal space, the implementation was suspended until the revenue situation of the government improves,” Bouy informed NAMs.
He added it was because of such budget constraints that government decided to introduce a 30 percent increment in 2022.
He continued to disclose that while his Ministry awaits the possibility of implementing the approved pay scale, further work is being done to streamline the civil service through the functional reviews recently initiated.
The Member for Foñi Bintang, Bakary Badjie, wanted the minister to suggest when he expects government revenue to improve to make salary increment realizable. In reply, the minister said: “That will be for the Ministry of Finance to determine because they fix the budget ceilings. We are hoping that as the revenue situation improves which we have started seeing we will be in a position to do the increment.”
