By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
As Civil servants eagerly await the Wages and Compensation Commission (WCC) to fully commence its operations, Chairman Alpha Osman Timbo has called on the public to exercise patience, saying they are working round the clock to ensure they fulfil the Commission’s mandate.
President Julius Maada Bio pronounced the Wages and Compensation Commission in Parliament in 2023 and appointed Chairman Timbo, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David W.S Banya and the Deputy CEO, Prince Bio to run the affairs of the Commission.
In his first media appearance as head of the Commission on the 1st July, 2024, Chairman Timbo noted that the main aim of the Commission is to determine the salaries and conditions of service of people in the public sector, but most importantly to harmonize those salaries and conditions of service to reflect equity and fairness.
He said that “over the years, we have experienced discrepancies and distortions in the public sector pay structure. Many people have been aggrieved due to the fact that there are people that have the same qualification, same experience, enter in the public service at the same time, but have different terms and conditions of service due to the institutions they find themselves in.”
He said those discrepancies and distortions have created a disincentive effect for those categories of workers working in two separate institutions.
Timbo said President Bio’s Big Five Changers that are involved in the restructuring of the public service for it to become more effective go with a remuneration package. He added that if the public service is to be reviewed, it has to become more efficient to retain people with skills that are qualified in the Public sector and they should have a remuneration that will be attractive.
He pointed out that in order to address the issue of salary distortions, the first step the Act takes is to nullify all the provisions that exist in different legislations that confers authority to those bodies to determine terms and conditions and transfer those authorities to WCC.
“This means that all the institutions that have been determining their terms and conditions of service no longer have the power to do so since the establishment of the Commission,” he said.
Timbo vowed that when the Commission becomes functional, it is their responsibility to recruit staff that will become part and parcel of all the negotiating bodies that existed before, such as the Police Council and the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) among others.
He said they have already drafted Directorates such as the Directorate of finance and administration, Job classification and evaluation, Research, Legal Affairs and Compliance, Compensation, Communication and Public Education so that the Commission will be more effective and efficient.
He recalled that the Commission has met with 190 (one hundred and ninety) State institutions specifically drawing their attention to the mandates of WCC to bring them to speed to understand the work of the Commission.
He said they now want to have two hands-on study tour experiences in countries like Kenya and Ghana that have succeeded in setting Wages and Compensation Commissions before starting with the recruitment process.
The Wages and Compensation Commission is responsible to determine Wages and Compensation for the public sector employees, harmonize the public sector pay system, to reflect equity and merit.
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