By Prince J Musa in Kenema
The Ministry of Tourism has warned that time is up for business people running hotels and guesthouses in Sierra Leone without registering them.
Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Dr Memunatu Pratt, warned that the ministry will soon shut down such hotels. She was speaking in Kenema as she presented the government’s bailout package for beneficiaries in the district.
“The grace period is over for those running hotels and guesthouses that are not legal. All hotels and guesthouses that are not registered, or do not have documents from NRA [National Revenue Authority], NASSIT [National Social Security and Insurance Trust] and don’t pay their staff the minimum wage, will be shut down soon,” she said.
“This has no connection with COVID. Shortly, a team from Tourism [Ministry], Labor [Ministry], and NASSIT and the security sector will be moving nationwide to check for those un-registered entities,” she added.
Ms Pratt was speaking at the Paloma Hotel in Kenema on Thursday, where she officially presented the bailout package at a ceremony attended by relevant officials, including the Resident Minister East, Andrew Ansu Fatorma. She lamented the persistence of hotel owners who are bent on flouting government rules by reneging on their obligations.
Ms Pratt presented Le 1,800,000 to each of the 95 workers that were presented by the Hotel and Guesthouse Federation in Kenema.
The scheme is part of a safety net project that was launched by President Julius Maada Bio earlier in the month. It entails Le4 billion bailout package for the sector. It will run for the next three months.
The hospitality industry has been the worse hit in the country by the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The Tourism Minister said that 2, 348 “low income” workers in the sector will benefit from the payout during the course of the three months.
“We are targeting 2,348 employees under this social safety net project country wide. For Kenema, 95 workers will benefit from it based on data presented to the ministry,” she stated.
However, Minister Pratt said she was disappointed with the number of people that were put forward by the federation to benefit from the scheme, noting that the figure wasn’t representative enough of the number of hotels and guesthouses in the district.
“We asked the federation of hotels and guests house managers and proprietors to supply the names of their workers. I’m dismayed over the attitudes of hotels and guesthouse managers and proprietors for depriving their staff from this [opportunity],” she said.
The Resident Minister East, Andrew Ansu Fatorma, also blamed hotels and guesthouse owners for not complying with the demand to submit names.
Fatorma said the names presented came from just five hotels in the district.
”I want to blame the hotel managers for not doing justice to their workers. Most times problem occur between managers and staff over salary payment. Some managers do violate labor laws and it is time to start falling on them heavily,” Fatorma said.
“Only five hotels showed responsible leadership to their staff. This is bad,” he stressed.
On behalf of hotel managers, Manager of Paloma Guesthouse, Emanuel Oladele, thanked the government for considering their staff under this pandemic.
“This COVID has affected our business system and making this effort is no mistake. We now believe that this government cares for even the least person in this country.” Oladele said
He added, “It’s first of its kind to see government helping private institutions like this.”
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