Dennis Bright – Chairman and National Leader, NGC: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 26 April 2022:
The evaluation on this report is in assist of the reputable calls for of our lecturers in Sierra Leone who’re calling for a rise of their earnings and enchancment of their dwelling situations. Since the start of the Maada Bio administration in 2018, the NGC has been consistently warning them to take the problem of hardship in Sierra Leone critically and to do no matter they will to handle or not less than to be seen to be addressing the problem.
Every time we publish a report on the rising costs of foodstuff out there, we all the time calculate the full value of feeding a household of 4. Earlier this month, on the event of the fourth anniversary of Paopa sufferness, we estimated {that a} minimal wage (Le 600,000) incomes household can solely feed itself for about seven days if all of the pay was spent on one primary meal a day. What we have now been doing is to sign to the Government that, considering the price of dwelling ranges, what we’re calling “minimum wage” is actually a sick joke.
Today, we transfer a stage additional and suggest that as a substitute of a “minimum” wage, we now start to speak a few “living” wage, incomes that makes individuals stay decently. Most Sierra Leoneans right now reside in disgrace; they beg as a result of they must, those that work don’t earn sufficient and must beg too. They must earn a dwelling wage as a result of what most individuals are paid now’s disconnected from the price of dwelling within the nation.
Based on calculations made from the costs of meals and important non-food objects we have now discovered {that a} household of 4 (which may be very uncommon in Sierra Leone) wants Le.4,989,000 a month for meals, shelter, water for cooking, laundry and cleansing, mild, transport, prime up and slightly steadiness for primary medicals.
It is due to this fact not stunning that the lecturers have began demanding extra. They who’re presupposed to be the pillars of the Government’s flagship free training, are incomes just one quarter of what they should begin dwelling decently. And they aren’t alone! And do you know that the quantity a sure public official collects as annual hire allowance is equal to the month-to-month wage of thirty-nine lecturers (taken at 1.3m)? This Government wants to hold its head in disgrace, and Sierra Leoneans want deliverance!
We stand by the lecturers and consider that it’s their proper to request for a greater deal in the event that they discover out that their employer (the Government), just isn’t rewarding them adequately for the companies they supply. Teachers (together with our moms) made us what we’re. I wish to pay tribute to the next lecturers and lecturers who amongst others contributed immensely to my training and ready me properly for a lifetime of service, reality and good instance:
- Rachel Lulu Wright (Prince of Wales and FBC),
- Alaba Elfrida Ellis (Murray Town Primary School),
- Eustace Palmer, the late Dr. Ramadan Dumbuya and Mrs. Jeannette Kamara (FBC).
All these individuals who made a stable influence on the lives of hundreds of my technology weren’t wealthy however they had been paid to stay in dignity. We don’t have any proper to sentence the lecturers of right now to the disgraceful life they’re dwelling. If their calls for usually are not taken critically, Government’s flagship program might have to vary its title to (FMQE) Free Minus Quality Education.
FOOD ITEMS NEEDED PER DAY FOR FAMILY OF FOUR PERSONS (Papa, Mama and two kids)
| ITEM | AMOUNT | UNIT PRICE | DAILY TOTAL | MONTHLY TOTAL |
| Coal | 3 packets | 2,000 | 6,000 | 180,000 |
| Rice | 4 cups | 3,000 | 12,000 | 360,000 |
| Pepper | 1 cup | 6,000 | 6,000 | 180,000 |
| Palm oil | 1 pint | 5,000 | 5,000 | 150,000 |
| Maggi | 6cubes | 500 | 3,000 | 90,000 |
| Ogiri | 3 tie | 1,000 | 3,000 | 90,000 |
| Plassas | 3 tie | 4,000 | 12,000 | 360,000 |
| Fish (bonga) | 1 set of three bonga fish | 20,000 | 600,000 | |
| Onions | 3 small | 7,500 | 225,000 | |
| Black Plastic bag | 1 | 1000 | 1,000 | 30,000 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 75,500 | 2,265,000 |
NON-FOOD EXPENDITURE FOR FAMILY OF FOUR PERSONS (Papa, Mama and two kids)
| ITEM | DAILY | MONTHLY TOTAL | ANNUAL |
| Water (1 bundle) @ Le 6,000 per day (for 4 individuals) | 6,000 | 180,000 | 2,160,000 |
| Water for laundry, cooking, cleansing and many others. 6 bata @Le 1,000 (for 4 individuals) | 6,000 | 180,000 | 2,160,000 |
| EDSA @ Le 200,000 (approx.100 models) | 200,000 | 2,400,000 | |
| Medical (for 4 individuals) @ Le 50,000 | 200,000 | 2,400,000 | |
| House hire @ Le 10,000,000 every year | 834,000 | 10,008,000 | |
| Transport (for 4 individuals) @ Le 31,000 per day | 930,000 | 11,160,000 | |
| Communications (prime up/knowledge and many others.) @ Le 50,000 per week (for 4 individuals) | 200,000 | 2,400,000 | |
| GRAND TOTAL
|
2,724,000 | 32,688,000 |
MONTHLY: FOOD (Le 2,265,000) + NON-FOOD (Le2,724,000)
Proposed month-to-month dwelling wage is Le 4,989,000 (or Approx. Le 5,000,000) for sole breadwinner household of 4.