GOSL TO BUILD 22,000 APARTMENTS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS

By Mamajah Jalloh

The Minister of Public Administration and Political Affairs, Honorable Amara Kallon has announced that the government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to build 22,000 apartments for civil servants. He made the announcement during the Ministry of Information and Civic Education’s weekly press conference at Miatta Civic Center, Youyi Building, Freetown on Tuesday, 4th August 2026.

Hon Amara Kallon stated that the Ministry of Lands has given 250 acres of land, with 50 acres located at the Peninsula and the remaining 200 acres at Six mile and that all equipment has arrived for the project to kick off, adding that they are preparing the joint agreement and that by the end of the year the construction of the said apartments would commence. He noted that the apartments would be paid for between 25 to 30 years as they want to make it so cheap and that the government has taken about 60 to 70 percent of the cost, noting that the government of Sierra Leones would remove taxation, tax wavers and government shares would be reduced to minimal cost so that they would be able to pay at least 1,500 to 2,000 Leones from their salary every month.

The Minister furthered that the apartments would have two rooms and parlors, three rooms and parlors together with bungalows. He assured that the civil servants would choose what suits them best, stressing that such are some of the things the government wants to do for civil servants to be well pleased. "Cabinet has now approved public service day as a national Remembrance Day, "he stated

Hon Kallon mentioned that they want to celebrate, award and at the same time showcase what the public service is all about. Kallon revealed that for the first in Sierra Leone the ministry has secured the public service Act so that they will coordinate the commission comprise of 18 commission and 153 government institutions, mentioning that nobody is responsible to coordinate that why the public commission want Act to coordinate the affairs of the public service so that they will be able to deliver in uniform. He echoed that the Public Service Academy was a civic service training college, but parliament has now approved and it has changed to a Public Service Academy, and they want to have an institution to train universities graduates, adding that they have secure land for that. "We want to build the college by ourselves, and permanent secretaries have agreed to contribute 10 Leones every month from their salaries," he stated. He added that social housing is one of the biggest problems they have with civil servants as house rent continued to increase every year and servant having to deal with that distraction from work.

Addressing the issue on lateness, the Minister assured citizens that they want to set standards to promote civil servants, noting that attendance is of the key factors to that as they want digitize attendance and their contribution of their ministry mandate and to meet the new career of their profession. "We want to make sure that the President will sit at his office and know that 94,000 servant and 80% have reached their office before 8:30," he stated. He concluded that ministries should be able to communicate online so that they will reduce time, human contact improve efficiency and professionalism within the public service, and they have uploaded 22,000 staff with one bio data.