By Abdul Hassan Fackie, Freetown, Sierra Leone. October 14, 2023

The Minister of Employment, Labour and Social Security, Mr. Mohamed Rahman Swaray, has on Wednesday, 11 October, 2023, conducted an on-the-spot check at Mackie Stores at Ferry Junction, to assess the safety and welfare of workers at the cement packaging and distribution factory

The Minister was accompanied by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Madam Fatmata Mustapha, and Occupational Safety and Health Officers, and other senior officials of the Ministry.

He also visited the Mackie Cement Processing Factory which is currently under construction at Hastings Tollgate.

According to Mackie Group’s Managing Director, Mr. Ahmed Mackie, he has already recruited at least 1000 workers who will be trained to work at the factory which will start operations soon.

He revealed that they have estimated a daily production of 50,000 bags of cement which will be sold all over the country, especially in the provinces.

The Minister engaged workers at both sites to get first-hand information about their welfare.

Most of them applauded the efforts of management for many things, especially for management’s assurances of salary increase by the end of October, against the rising economic inflation.

They however pleaded with management, through the minister, to improve their medical facilities and their form of identification.

The Minister also applauded the Mackie group for the investment and expressed hope that Sierra Leone would soon cease to import cement and start exporting instead.

“This is a good investment and I am sure that by the time you start operations here, thousands of people will be employed, directly or indirectly. It will largely promote the President’s agenda for job creation in the country,” he stated.

He assured the workers that their concerns would be addressed by the time he visited next.