“In a country with an unemployment rate of nearly 80% it is hard to take seriously the concerns of those lucky enough to have an income”. While the words of labour ministry spokesperson Edmond Y. Kamara sound blunt and insensitive, it’s hard to deny that they also make a fair deal of sense.
Still the fact that local stone breakers in Makeni work tedious, long hours for very little pay grants them a right to grievance.
A mere few hundred metres behind Radio Maria, my home base during my time in Makeni, sits an informal granite quarry that provides work for between fifty and a hundred men, women and children. Numbers fluctuate as workers are consistently unable to work due to chronic labour related injuries.
Leonard Massaquoi, Radio Maria reporter and journalism student, and I recently visited the job site located at the base of Makeni’s Marian Hill. Leonard had asked me to accompany him as he investigated claims of unfit working conditions.
The stone breakers indeed grumbled about the strains of physical labour and the need for government administered workers compensation. However, their most consistent complaint revolved around the lack of steady market prices for the granite stones.
Three-year veteran of the trade Abu Bangura was confident he would have a much easier time providing for his family if the government would take a role in setting a fair and consistent market rate for the commodity.
After our afternoon with the stone breakers Leonard and I visited the local office of Sierra Leone’s Labour Ministry. Spokesperson Edmond Y. Kamara admitted he was unaware of the specific group we were inquiring about, the informal job sector makes up more then half of Sierra Leone’s workforce. Kamara did say that all members of the self-employed workforce are encouraged to register with the worker’s insurance board, the body that provides compensation when registered labours become unable to work due to illness or injury.
The problem remains however, with unpredictable wages and the relentless risk of immobilizing injury, workers cannot afford to pay into anything other then the immediate needs of their dependents.
-Mackay Taggart
