By Alfred Koroma
The Ministry of Employment, Labour and Social Security has again tabled the Work Permit Act and the Work Permit Fees Regulations in the Well of Parliament.
The regulations which are the Statutory Instrument No. 1 of 2024, proposed an increment in the work permit fees on NGOs and Corporate bodies operating in Sierra Leone.
The instrument was first tabled in Parliament last month, but was withdrawn last week following concerns against the increments and lack of consultations with Labour and employment bodies in the preparation of the regulations.
Re-submitting the regulations to the legislative house, the Deputy Minister of Employment, Labour and Social Security, Lansana Mohamed Dumbuya said they have now had consultations with the said bodies.
Yet, the statutory Instrument tabled in the House yesterday still generated controversies among MPs with some saying they should have been allowed to preview the contents of the Instrument before being tabled in the house.
The MPs expressed much concern over the way payment of the work permit fees has been indicated in the regulations, charging the fees in the unstable Leones currency instead of the US Dollars.
Giving the volatility of the Leones currency against the US Dollars, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Sengehpoh Thomas said the fees should have been indicated in dollars with the Leones equivalent to the dollars accepted.
“I wish to state that I hope the Ministry of Labour comes to Parliament with this document not later than one year today. Because I have seen potential problems with this particular statutory instrument,I would have thought that the fees in the schedule is presented differently other than the way it is presented,” the Deputy Speaker said. “It should have been indicated in dollars or the Leones equivalent of the amount of dollars.”
