By: Kruah Thompson
Monrovia, Liberia, November 20, 2024—The Liberian government announces that beginning January 2025, the minimum monthly salary for civil servants will be US$150.
In line with the Decent Work Act of 2015 and as outlined in the draft budget for FY2025, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has authorized the Ministry of Finance to allocate more than sixteen million US dollars to adjust employees’ salaries and tackle challenges facing the public sector.
This funding will also support monthly salary increases for nurses, midwives, and physician assistants, with top-ups ranging from US$25 to US$50. These healthcare workers will receive a US$50 salary boost per month, while other health workers will receive between US$25 and US$40, depending on their positions. Similarly, government employees in the agriculture and security sectors, including AFL soldiers, EPS personnel, police officers, and agriculture extension workers, will also benefit from monthly salary top-ups ranging from US$30 to US$40.
In addition, the final part of the 2025 income support strategy entails implementing the provisions of the National Security Act of 2015, which mandates the Government of Liberia to cover insurance costs for all active-duty police officers. In the first-ever implementation of this law, over 5,000 members of the Liberia National Police will be provided with insurance coverage fully funded by the Government, beginning January 2025. This initiative is expected to offer additional support to these dedicated public servants, who continue to sacrifice for the collective security of the state under challenging conditions.
Disclosing on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, Minister of Finance and Development Planning Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan revealed that approximately 28,200 government workers, representing 45% of the government workforce, are set to benefit from salary top-ups in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025.
However, under former President Weah’s administration, some government employees were paid below $40, violating the Decent Work Act. At the time, former President Weah denied any knowledge of the issue.
Similarly, during his administration, protests took place at various government entities, including the Ministry of Information, Culture Affairs and Tourism, and the Ministry of Transport, where workers’ unions expressed dissatisfaction with the inhumane treatment of salary structures.
However, Minister Ngafuan, during his appearance at the Ministry of Information’s regular briefing, indicated that funds have been allocated in the FY2025 budget to address some of these challenges.
In other words, he says, they have allocated US$2.6 million to enable the ministries of Health and Education to begin a multi-year process of addressing the perennial issues of volunteer workers after an exhaustive and thorough vetting exercise.
“We recognize that the cost to put all volunteer workers on the payroll fully is very high, hovering around US$15 million, which the Government cannot fully afford in FY 2025, given the competing demands on the fiscal space,” Ngafuan says.
Besides, he notes that government has allocated nearly US$3 million in the draft budget for FY 2025 to ensure beginning January 2025, nearly two thousand teachers with C-Certificates, B-Certificates, Associate and Bachelor’s degrees, who are currently being paid below their respective pay grades, will receive salaries to commensurate with their qualifications.
Likewise, he adds, they have also included at least US$225 to be added to the salaries of specialist doctors in the health sector who are being paid below their pay grades to fully regularize their pay starting January.
On November 18, 2024, President Joseph Boakai submitted the Draft National Budget for FY 2025 to the 55th Legislature to initiate review and approval process.
The submission, made pursuant to Section 17.1 of the 2019 Amendment and Restatement of the Public Financial Management Act of 2009, projects a total of US$851.8 million, surpassing the FY 2024 Draft National Budget of US$625.57 million.
As significant as the jump may seem, Minister Ngafuan believes that it does not address all of the spending entities’ development ambitions and challenges within the country, especially considering that their resource requests for 2025 amount to roughly US$2 billion.
“So, the allocations we have made in the 2025 budget should be seen largely as a significant step in a multi-year journey to address our country’s and people’s development ambitions and challenges. In subsequent years, the government intends to do more so that every succeeding year will be better than the previous year.” The Minister concludes. Editing by Jonathan Browne
