The Minister of Employment, Labour, and Social Security, Mr. Mohamed Rahman Swaray, has expanded his inspection and familiarization visit to companies and businesses operating in the provincial areas of Sierra Leone.
For months now, the Minister has been engaging workers and management across Freetown and recently, the provinces.
Yesterday, he and his team, comprising of the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, directors, and other senior officers of the Labour Ministry, were at Marampa Mines Limited and Sunbird Bioenergy, respectively.
The Director General of the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT), Mr. Fuaad Daboh, and other NASSIT officials also accompanied the Minister to ascertain the NASSIT compliance of the companies.
Marampa Mines Limited engages in the extraction and export of Iron Ore while Sunbird Bioenergy cultivates Sugarcane and produces Ethanol.
Both companies currently employ about 10,000 people, the majority of whom are Sierra Leoneans.
The Minister and team held frank discussions with their workers and management and several challenges were highlighted.
He applauded both managements for providing such a huge number of jobs which is a boost to the President’s agenda to create 500,000 jobs for Sierra Leoneans within the current five years.
He also applauded them for their community development strives and expressed hope for more developmental projects in the future.
The Minister said that in the coming days, officers of the Ministry will engage management on relevant Labour Law obligations and ensure that the challenges raised are addressed swiftly to uphold good industrial relations.