Historical Overview
After the declaration of the end of the decade-long civil war (1991-2002), the President, Alhaji Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, expressed his desire to establish a social security scheme as part of the process of rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement geared towards sustainable peace, good governance, socio-economic development and political advancement.
In other to achieve his dream, the President included Social Security within the mandate of the Ministry of Labour and Industrial Relations, in 1999, with the responsibility of establishing the Scheme for all categories of workers, and the Social Safety Net for the aged and needy throughout Sierra Leone.
The Minister of Labour, Social Security and Industrial Realtions, Hon. Alpha O. Timbo, set up the Tripartite Interim Establishment Committee, comprising technologies in the Trades Unions, Employers, Business Houses, Insurance companies and the line Ministries.
This committee was charged, among other things, with the task of considering and advising the Ministry on the form and scope of the scheme. That is to say, the committee should evaluate and advise on the sustanability or otherwise of the existing legislation, including the Draft National Social Security and Insurance Trust Act.
After a period of one year, the committee produced and presented to the Ministry a report entitled, the Preliminary Report on the Social Security Scheme. Following the Committees recommendations, ILO conventions 138, 151 and 182 were approved by cabinet and ratified by Parliament