Over 155 public servants from several government ministries were issued query letters on Monday, September 4.

The 160 public servants were queried after a surprise visit by Chief Minister David Moinina Sengeh found them absent from work “without an excuse”.

“Last week, I made an unannounced visit to the Government’s largest office.

“I asked that everyone who was not at work (without an excuse) get a query letter as per law,” Sengeh noted.

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He added that his office can confirm that over 150 public servants have received query letters due to negligence at work place.

The majority of the query letters were issued to staff at the Ministry of Agriculture with 111 being absent, late or leave work early.

14 query letters were also issued to staff at the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning. The Ministry of Health issued 9 query letters to staff while 7 staff from the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources were also queried.

The Chief Minister also made stops at Audit Service Sierra Leone, National Commission for Democracy and Decentralisation Secretariat but found out that all their staff were present for duty.

The Chief Minister, in a Facebook post, questioned the performance of the commitment of some civil servants in delivering.

“We probably lose 500 man hours (being conservative) in the public sector normally per day from people just not showing up, showing up late or leaving early,” the Chief Minister noted.

Some locals have expressed outrage at the level of negligence by staff at the said ministries especially Ministry of Agriculture. Some also commended the Chief Minister and encourage him to do more visits in other MDAs in the West African nation.