Monrovia- The Director General of Civil Service Agency madam Laurine Johnson has said that the Government’s wage bill has grown from around US$30 Million in 2005/06 to US322 Million in 2018/19.

Speaking at the MICAT regular conference, Madam Johnson said already at an unsustainable level of growth, the wage bill was expected to continue to rise, due to poor human resource management practices across the government, especially related to employment, and the discretionary management of allowances, which is about 60% of government’s expenditures and is really troubling the economy.

This outlook overcrowded our Government’s ability to fund additional developmental projects, a major challenge the Wage Bill Technical Committee led by the Civil Service Agency and MFDP is addressing.
She further narrated that the Guiding Principles of the Wage Harmonization exercise are:

Affordability – The size of the wage bill should be commensurate with available budget resources and GOL’s overall expenditure priorities; Equity – Compensation is to be determined on an objective basis that reflects the relative value of positions. 
Transparency – There is clarity in pay policy, the composition of the overall pay package and; Competitiveness – Competitive compensation is an important factor in attracting and retaining the skills that governments need to fulfil their functions and deliver services to the public.

Meanwhile Civil Service boss has said that the overall goal of Harmonization exercise is to maintain and implement a sustainable Public-Sector Personnel and Wage Bill Management System.
The specific objectives the exercise consider are but not limited to the following:Achieve reasonable reduction in the overall GoL Wage Bill from around 60% to 40% of total revenue. Elimination of waste and abuse in the personnel and pay system of all spending entities.

Improved pay and standardized management of human resources across the Government of Liberia.
Fellow Liberians, Members of the Cabinet, Officials of Government and Member of the Press: The strategy employed by the team are as follow: Harmonize the wages of all employees of the GoL through the application of a standard pay and grade structure. 
Eliminate the discretionary allowance system and collapse all pay and allowances into a SINGLE PAY. Centralize public sector HR management systems and processes through the CSA.Implement a Limited Replacement Program of retired civil servants. Engage in vigorous payroll cleaning. Pursue the completion of the reform of all MACs. 

“Fellow Liberians, Members of the Cabinet, Officials of Government and Member of the Press: As the results of the exercise, I am pleased to present to you a summary of the harmonization exercise, which explains the conduct of the exercise and some of the basic outcomes to date: A total 66,538 employees from central government have been graded for now according to the GOL revised pay grade structure. They include teachers, health workers, security officers, foreign service employees, and presidential appointees among others excluding the Judiciary and Legislature;Of the 66,538 employees from central government, 56,338 or 85% of these employees were protected from any downward adjustment in pay. They include teachers, health workers, security officers, foreign service employees and employees currently earning below their assessed pay grade; Of the 66,538 employees from central government, 10,200 or 15% of these employees were affected by downward salary adjustment including presidential appointees; and Of the 66,538 employees from central government, 14,900 or 27% of the employees protected will also get an immediate monthly pay increase beginning July 2019. Employees to receive the increment in pay are as follow:
Additional US$50 will added on the monthly pay for each of the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) Officer, Liberia National Fire Service (LNFS) Officer and the Liberia Drug Enforcement (LDEA) Officer;Additional US$36 will be added on the monthly pay for each officer of the Liberian National Police (LNP);Additional US$30 will be added on the monthly pay for each officer of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL);Additional US$15 will be added on the monthly pay for each Probation and Correction officer;3,500 teachers currently earning between US$40-US$75 on supplementary payroll will now earn US$100; and 114 health workers within the Ministry of Health currently earning below US$100 will now earn US$100. 
Fellow Liberians, Members of the Cabinet, Officials of Government and Member of the Press: Beginning July 2019, the following new policy change has been effected to guide the GoL Payroll Harmonization and Reforms efforts: The Application of Uniformed Policy & Standards using the CSA: Merit-Base Recruitment;  Human Resource Management Policy; and  Civil Service Standing Orders
The Management of GOL Personnel Actions will now be centralize through the CSA which include:Recruitment and Selection;Promotion, Transfer, Deletion;Classification & Grading; and Testing and Evaluation through the Performance Management System
The Management of GoL Payroll System will now be Centralize through the CSA:A single payroll A single pay system
In conclusion, the CSA and MFDP are very committed to ensuring that government of Liberia maintains a clean and concise payroll that predicts the workforce in term of pensions, capacity development and manpower planning.”