By Idrissa Bangura
ARLAC on Tuesday, October 8th, 2024 held a senior members‘meeting responsible for labor, employment and manpower at the Atlantic Lumley Beach Hotel. The purpose of the meeting was to congratulate and showcase the newly appointed Chairperson of ARLAC, s a Sierra Leonean.Outgoing Chairperson, Mr. Moshe Mosaase started his statement by acknowledging staffs of ARLAC member countries and continued by extending his appreciation for the warm welcome accorded him by Sierra Leoneans since his arrival at the Freetown International Airport. He extended his gratitude to the Senior Secretary of ARLAC who was noticeably absent.
He congratulated the incoming Chairperson of ARLAC and continued by saying that he holds firm belief that the incoming Chairperson of ARLAC will improve on the challenges of unemployment, austerity and those of ARLAC ministries.
Incoming Chairperson who also doubles as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Mr. Joseph T. Kanu, thanked the outgoing Chairperson for overcoming his challenges as leading a body of such nature is not an easy task.
He further expressed the challenges of hosting such a conference that deal with brains of ARLAC member states and because of the active move of the government of Sierra Leone it fostered the preparation of this maiden meeting within four weeks.
He promised to hold this position with all level of seriousness to ensure that member countries of ARLAC solve the problems of employment and manpower.
Executive Director of ARLAC, Retselisitsoe Khetsi, congratulated the government of Sierra Leone for hosting this meeting. He continued by saying that the reception the people of Sierra Leone showed to them is one that will never be erased in their minds so easily.
He extended his appreciation to the staff of the Ministry of Labor for giving them a befitting welcome. He registered that the objective of the meeting is to ensure that the Labor Ministries within the ARLAC countries be able to sustain and implement the activities they want to undertake and encourage ARLAC member countries to have a proper collaboration and partnership within their countries.
He said they will continue to form a relationship with IOM, UNDP and ILO to continue informing their training with these organizations and they will continue to register the ILO’s technical support to the progress of the ARLAC countries.
Mr Khetsi said they will also continue to share videos with senior officials to ensure that the organization is known through their activities among member countries. He urged members to facilitate for funds as financial support is the backbone of their activities.
Guest of Honor and Member of Employment and Social Security in Parliament, Hon. Yei Sam, said she is delivering her speech as guest of honor in the absence of the Labor Minister who was absent in the meeting.
She continued by saying that the gathering is staged to commence a meeting for senior officials responsible for labor, employment and manpower, and encouraged member countries to create a platform of labor safety among member countries.
Hon. Rebecca Yei further said the organization which started as a project was established to address and strengthen labor issues in Africa. She said the project is aimed to build the minds of technocrats that helped to build labor issues among ARLAC countries.
She encouraged member countries to unite and ensure that no one is left behind. She ended her statement by thanking the administrators and ensure that they employ strict compliance on the companies to ensure that workers of such companies salaries are looked into.
Leave a Reply