The new president of Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio has announced the sacking of all political appointees at the West African nation’s foreign missions.
Those sacked include ambassadors and information attachés. Bio went further to ask all public sector workers who have attained the age of 60 to retire.
The president issued an executive order on Wednesday detailing new measures aimed at reducing the waste in public financing.
New recruitments have also been halted for now in the public service.
The executive order also read that “With immediate effect, purchase of vehicles by all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and public corporations has been banned until a new Fleet Management Policy is put in place.
Payment for fuel, telephone and internet services to public servants in Ministries, Departments and Agencies for their residences are suspended with immediate effect pending a new benefit policy.”
Other measures taken to control public spending include ensuring that “All new contracts by MDAs and public corporations should be cleared by the Ministry of Finance to ensure they do not constitute a financial risk to the national budget.”
The new president who is a former military leader was sworn in as new president this month. The former President Ernest Bai Koroma stepped down after his maximum two terms in office.
Sierra Leone witnessed a brutal, diamond-fuelled civil war in the 1990s and the new president faces a huge task of trying to fix the West African country’s economy, still recovering from the war and recent Ebola epidemic.
Source: Africafeeds.com
