The “Hazard Pay” conundrum; the irony of an incentive. By: Sheriff Mahmud Ismail Background Since the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease back in May 2014, about 200 Sierra Leonean health workers have succumbed to the virus. Its ferocity on health workers has driven many underground. The government and its development partners- notably the World Bank- therefore devised the hazard pay, a bi- weekly incentive package. The rationale was to acknowledge the bravery of the ones who hold on to the fort and to incentivise them to carry on with their noble service of saving lives. Challenges Motivational as this initiative may be, the payment process has been fraught with several challenges. A bloated pay list in an inefficient pay system has caused a lot of hemorrhage of the funds for the fight against Ebola. The dark image of malfeasance associated with officials in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHs) has also cast some shadows on the integrity of the process. Besides, a good number of the support staff, who actually constitutes the bulk of the employees in the holding and treatment centers are volunteers. This has come with its own challenges; they are not on the register of the MoHs and some did not even have mobile phones before they joined the fight against the epidemic. This makes verification tedious. Impact The consequence has been substantial delays in the payment of the incentives necessitating periodic strike actions. These industrial actions have put a slur both on the authorities and the image of the men and women on the frontline. In November 2014, some overzealous members of the burial team in Kenema, Eastern Sierra Leone, denigrated the bodies of victims of the Ebola virus to draw attention to the non-payment of their incentive. Their infamous action was roundly denounced and perpetrators were dismissed. Desired solution To address this opprobrium, the electronic payment system was introduced effective December 2014. The process involves loading the information of eligible beneficiaries onto an electronic platform which then sends sms notifications to vendors and recipients alike. The information indicates inter alia; who, where and how much to be received. The beneficiary would then present the sms notification to the designated vendor who has instructions and cash to pay upon verification. The e-payment turned out to be even better than expected, said Ray Akwa, a UNDP e-payment consulted working at the National Ebola Response Center (NERC). Ray further asserted that there is over 90% accuracy in the payment. “Workers are being paid correctly and no money goes missing”, he said. Challenges persist Nonetheless, the delays in the payment of the incentive persist. Emerson Tan, a technical consultant at NERC on the E-payment explains that there were significant gaps in the lists that were migrated to the electronic platforms. “It took two payment cycles for these to be rectified. Once these were sorted out, weak reporting systems and liquidity management- regarding who received what and which vendor cashed out-became the new set of challenges”, said Emerson. The technical consultant went on to say that as the data was being cleaned up, more names were being added. “In just two weeks, the list increased from 16,000 to 20,000 names”, adding that “we do not have control on the expansion of the list”. The result of this conundrum is substantial delays in the payment of the incentives which in turn result in industrial actions. Strike Action at Hastings On 11 th , January, 2015, I was at the Hastings Ebola Treatment Center. The facility was, in a formal ceremony, releasing 29 of its patients certified free of the Ebola virus. It was the 14 th of such ceremonies since the center was established in September 2014. As of 11 th January, 2015, a total 751 patients had been admitted 449 of who have been discharged. This puts the survival rate at that facility to as high as about 60%. Thus the Hastings Ebola Treatment Center, manned exclusively by Sierra Leoneans, has been widely acclaimed for its unprecedented achievement in dealing with brutal mortality rate. The facility has also been noted for its disciplined amidst all the challenges of the hazard pay. It staff had never resorted to strike actions in demand of their incentives; that is, until few days ago. For the first time, those heroes and heroines at Hastings expressed disenchantment over their payment, which they claimed has been pending for six weeks. Like their colleagues in other centers, they were threatening to disrupt the discharge ceremony. Dr. Santgie Sesay, the Coordinator of the Hastings facility wears a perpetual smile and was calm as always but his frustration was as noticeable as the anger of his staff was palpable. “I don’t even want to talk about this anymore, I have tried to explain to them several times but some of them think I have collected their money”, he told me. “For six weeks we have not received our incentive” one of the workers said. “The last time I collected my money but this time the vendor told me my name was not on the list, how is that possible?”, another queried. Clearly, the irony of the incentives is driving a wedge between the medical officials and their staff. Mr. Wurie, the Planning Manager at the National Ebola Response Center, along with the Deputy Minister of Health-Madam Madnatu Rahman, was at hand at Hastings to pacify the disenchanted staff. “What really happened with the payment; why has it taken six weeks”; I bombarded. Wurie reiterated that the problem has to do with the integrity of the list and the technical problems associated with the electronic payment system. E-Payment system could work I have worked as a Customer Operations Manager in two mobile telephone companies in Sierra Leone and I can attest that, with competent staff, the electronic platforms could be extremely efficient in such transfers and in the management of the clients’ information. Admittedly, there could be some systems failure for a number of technical reasons, but these could be pin pointed and rectified, usually within 48 hours at the latest. The real problem may be elsewhere Literally, computer systems are fed and they give out what they are commanded to produce- garbage in garbage out! Analysts say, while all technical issues regarding the electronic payment should be looked into, the MoHs and the NERC should also spend some time to do what many would like them to do- look deeply within! But as I write, it is likely that the Anti - Corruption Commission would help with that introspection. Reports say, the Anti- Corruption Commission has written to NERC demanding information relating to the hazard pay; this might be the initial step onto another round of investigation on the officials of the MoHs and NERC, who had taken over the ebola response, may well be asked to answer some questions.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 08:42:21 +0000
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