By Kemo Cham
The new Minister of Labour and Social Security, Alpha Osman Timbo, has called on staff of the ministry to cooperate with him as he assumed office. Mr Timbo told a handing over session on Monday that he would need the support of every member of staff of the ministry to attain “positive change” in the operations of the ministry.
“I am open to work with whosoever is ready to work with me,” he stated at the occasion held in the conference hall of the Ministry.
Timbo, who was redeployed from the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education in the latest cabinet reshuffle by President Julius Maada Bio earlier this month, takes over from Adekunle Joliff Milton King who has been reassigned to the Foreign Service. Mr King was at hand to officially hand over the office to his successor. He used the occasion to highlight the achievements of the ministry under his stewardship in the last nearly two years, including the ratification of key conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), restoration of Sierra Leone’s voting right at the international organization, popularization of the National Labour Migration Policy, and the unannounced inspections to business entities to ensure compliance of the country’s labour laws. King said all of these were pointers to the government’s commitment towards implementing the Decent Work Country Programme, the new vogue within the ILO.
The outgoing Labour minister then thanked his team, singling out the Deputy Minister, Lansana Mohamed Dumbuya for their contributions to these successes. He urged the staff to continue working hard, noting that hard work pays.
“If you work good, you will have good reward,” he said.
For Timbo, this is his second coming at the Labour Ministry. He served there between 2001 and 2002 in the administration of the late former President Ahmad Tejan Kabba, when he was credited for transforming the ministry. He was notably credited as one of the key architects of the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT), which is considered as one of the biggest achievements of the Kabba administration.
It was also under Timbo’s watch that the National Social Safety Net was also introduced by the then Ministry of Labour and Industrial Relations.
But under the ‘New Direction,’ it seems the task for this calm educationist and unionist might prove a little daunting.
The Labour Ministry has been one of the least prioritized in the last decade, hence it is replete with an avalanche of problems, from outdated legislations to lack of infrastructure. The consequence of these has been the ministry’s apparent inability to tackle perennial problems like youth unemployment, violations of labour laws, protracted issues around an overseas employment scheme started under Timbo as Labour Minister, as well as labour union disputes.
It seems some of the new minister’s first assignments have already been carved out for him. According to a news dispatch from the Ministry’s information desk, members of the Sierra Leone Motor Drivers' Union and the Overseas Recruitment Group were among the first to pay him visit, on Monday.
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