The National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) has released a statement refuting the allegations circulating on social media that it is refusing to pay ad-hoc staff who were hired to conduct the Registration and Issuance of National Identification Numbers (NIN) to school pupils in the Western Area and Eastern Region.
According to the Director General of NCRA, Mohamed Massaquoi, the allegations are untrue, misleading, and unfounded. He further explained that contracts have been issued to ad-hoc staff conducting the registration exercise in both regions through the District Registration Officers in the respective NCRA District Offices. The return of signed contracts validates willingness to work and confirms the number of staff actually conducting the exercise. The authority will be constrained to make payments without receipt of signed contracts.
Additionally, the ad-hoc staff is expected to produce evidence of work done in the form of reports and return of NCRA assets through the District Registration Officers of the respective districts to warrant payment for services provided. Payment of allowances is contingent upon the successful and satisfactory execution of the terms and conditions set in the contract. Ad-hoc staff have sensitive registration equipment/kits and must return them to the authority before payments can be made.
The NCRA is preparing to effect payment to deserving ad-hoc staff who have been satisfactorily verified to have met the terms and conditions set in their contracts for the two regions (Western Area and Eastern Region) scheduled for Tuesday, 18th April 2023. The NCRA urges those who have neither submitted reports nor returned signed contracts and equipment issued to them to do so by Saturday, 15th April 2023, through their respective supervisors serving as Zonal Heads for the exercise drawn from the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), Teaching Service Commission (TSC), Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU), Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (CPSS), National Council of Head Teachers (NACOHT), etc.
The payments will be witnessed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to ensure transparency and accountability in the process. The NCRA assures the general public that with support from the school authorities and other stakeholders across the country, no school pupil in the country will be left out of the registration and issuance of NIN as directed by the Cabinet. The NCRA entreats all ad-hoc staff to continue to exercise patience while it makes every effort to attend to them in the shortest possible time with the observance of due process.