The Public Account Committee (PAC) in Parliament headed by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh has discovered that several unpaid immigration workers and volunteers are languishing on  border points.

The Deputy Speaker has also accused the Director of Finance at the Immigration Department for misleading Parliament.

The committee discovered that the outstanding royalty with Netpage Chief Executive Officer, Jamel Shallop, supposed to have paid to the government of Sierra Leone in 2022 was not paid.

The Deputy Speaker made the submissions when scrutinizing the Immigration Department on issues on the Auditor General’s Report at the New Administrative Building in Parliament.

According to the Deputy Auditor General Morie Lansana, Netpage was supposed to be paid to the government an outstanding amount of royalty $429,627, but the company’s CEO had failed to honour that.

He said it is contrary to the contract agreement was signed by the government and Netpage’s CEO, Mr. Shallop.

Morie said the amount was for E-passport produced in 2022.

He recounted that the audit team urged Mr. Shallop to expedite payment into the consolidated revenue fund, but until now the issue remains unresolved.

Responding to the issue, representative from Netpage confirmed to the committee that the above-mentioned outstanding royalty was to be paid to the government of Sierra Leone’s consolidated revenue fund.

He also disclosed to the committee’s chairman that due to 20% lost by the company in producing E – passport, as they held several meetings with the Immigration Department, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Finance and narrated to them the company’s lost in producing passports.

After several meetings with them in respect of the outstanding royalty, the company was exonerated from paying the said amounts.

But before the committee, the Director of Finance at Immigration Department denied being present at all the meetings held.

The Netpage tendered a signed David Panda Noah and Andrew Jaiah Kaikai to support his claim with regards the outstanding amounts.

The report further stated that, the Sierra Leone Immigration Department in 2022 had staff challenges, but still there were  massive and colossal staff expenses.

Mr. Lansana said only 220 personnel were on post due to lack of recruitment of personnel by the government of Sierra Leone.

In addition, he said, the Immigration Department was having 166 volunteers which accounted for 72. 5 per cent of the department workforce countrywide, with no condition of service; no remunerations which practice  is  contrary to  regulations and rules of Sierra Leone Civil Service code which prohibits employment of unpaid persons.

To deploying unpaid volunteers at the various borders posts in the country, it may have some security implications considering the sensitive nature of the department and the security implications to the state and its citizens.

He said there is a tendency for the volunteers working in the various posts to be involved in activities for personal benefits or gains at the expenses of the country.

The deputy auditor said they recommended that the Chief Immigration Officer (CIO), Hon. Alusine Konneh, to ensure recruitment of staff in the existence vacant positions in the department and permanently deployed them in borders areas rather deploying volunteers.

The Director of Finance at the Immigration Department said the management had made several attempts over the period requesting clearance for the MOF recruitment, but no positive result was given until the end of the reporting year.

Buttress ING his points, a representative from Human Resources Management Office (HRMO), said they are aware of the recruitment and assured that advertisement is out for the vacant positions at the department.

He affirmed that they have critical vacancies at the department including the Director of passport among others.

He concluded that a total of 36 vacancies positions were advertised