By Francis H. Murray
The Director General of the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT), an institution charged with administering the country’s national pension scheme has assured members and beneficiaries of the scheme of improved service delivery under his leadership.
Mohamed Fuaad Daboh made this assurance during the Trust’s annual employers’ banquet and awards ceremony organised on Friday 11 December, at the Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel in Freetown. He said his leadership would be centred on transparency, accountability and excellence in service delivery in the New Year.
‘‘I want to assure you that NASSIT will continue to be the centre of excellence, strongly believing in the core values of transparency and accountability’’ he stated.
Explaining the reason for the awards, Daboh noted that the compliance award to institutions, which are among the most complying for the 2020 financial year, was a way of not only appreciating and motivating them, but also to encourage non-complying institutions to be on the side of the law.
He said that his administration had not only been concerned with enforcing compliance with the NASSIT Act through legal means, but that it had also, through ‘‘constructive engagement’’ with employers, tried to foster a smooth relationship with members which he said accounted for the awards. He added that a sectorial approach was used in selecting the awardees which he said was based on guidelines such as prompt registration of employees with the scheme, correct declaration and deduction of employees’ earnings and prompt and regular payment of social security contributions in respect of employees and timely submissions of average contributions schedule on a monthly basis.
To non-compliant institutions, Daboh used the occasion to reiterate that social security was a human rights issue, adding that non-compliance amounted to a violation of the rights of employees and their dependents.
“Non-compliance is equivalent to an abuse of the human rights of your employees and their dependants. I therefore crave your indulgence to fully comply with the dictates of the NASSIT Act to save the future of employees, their dependants and Sierra Leoneans,” he encouraged.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the occasion and President of the Sierra Leone Employers’ Federation, Kobi Walker, highlighted the contributions of the government to cushion the effects of Covid-19 pandemic on the private sector since the country registered its index case. Quoting the minister of finance, he said the country’s economy was projected to contract by 2.8 % this year, instead of the 3.1% projected in the early days of the pandemic. Mr Walker said the earlier projection prompted the federation and the labour congress to submit a position paper to government, in which they highlighted and suggested measures to be taken by government to reduce the impact of Covid-19 on employees and their employers.
He lauded the fact that the government had taken some measures to mitigate the impact on businesses occasioned by the pandemic, which he said included the disbursement of Le 500 billion assistance to the private sector to support foreign exchange requirement for importation of fuel and raw materials by the Bank of Sierra Leone.
He added that the government also rendered assistance to SMEs and NMEs, the hospitality sector and in some cases fiscal relief to corporate institutions and organisations. Walker said the federation was gratified that the government included in the budget for 2021 further incentives for employers, including the reduction in excise duties and rates for use of local materials in their supply chain.
In his statement, Minister of Trade and Industry Dr. Hinga Sandy, urged organisations operating in the country and those seeking to make Sierra Leone an investment centre to consider the social security scheme for their employers so as to ensure their future wellbeing.
Minister of Labour and Social Security, Alpha Timbo noted that there had been a remarkable improvement in service delivery by the scheme over the years, which he said was evident in the prompt payment of pensioners. He said that when he took over the ministry government was owing the scheme a huge amount of money, adding that because President Bio placed huge premium on the scheme, plans were ongoing by the New Direction government to pay all backlogs to the Trust which he said was the best thing to do if other institutions were to follow suit.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Labour, Hassan Sesay, pledged the committee’s continued support to the Trust to ensure compliance by all sectors across the country.
NASSIT was established under the late President Ahmad Tejan Kabba in 2001 through an Act of Parliament and charged with the responsibility of providing retirement and other benefits to meet the contingency needs of workers and their dependents.
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