His Excellency Julius Maada Bio, Minister of Finance, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura, and Jeneba J. Bangura, Commissioner General, National Revenue Authority (NRA)
Ordinary Sierra Leoneans are feeling the pressure almost six months into what President Julius Maada Bio has dubbed a “Action Year.” Small businesses are facing more challenges, and household finances are being strained as a result of the government’s increased revenue drive, which has seen taxes and levies deepened and expanded throughout the economy.
The state is undermining the very services that revenue is meant to safeguard by continuing to spend more than it can afford in crucial areas. The public sector payroll has been one of the most blatant instances of financial strain. Payroll, the single largest item in the national budget, has long been a source of ongoing overspending, pushing out funding for other crucial services like health care and education.
According to a recent Adam Smith International (ASI) report titled “Getting Sierra Leone’s Payroll Right,” payroll expenditures routinely exceeded authorised budgets between 2019 and 2023, sometimes by as much as 17%. These deficiencies went beyond technical accounting issues. They made it more difficult for the government to plan and carry out its priorities, reduced fiscal space, and undermined the credibility of the budget.
But persistent overspending is not the only aspect of the story. It also describes how improved budget practices, rather than costly new systems, helped alter the course. The Ministry of Finance launched a concentrated effort to enhance payroll budgeting, monitoring, and control with assistance from the FCDO-funded Expertise to Support Economic Reform in Sierra Leone program, which was carried out by ASI. The change concentrated on enhancing the people and procedures already present in the system, such as making better use of data, enhancing inter-ministerial cooperation, and providing staff with useful tools and training to handle payroll as an active part of the budget.
The establishment of a specific payroll budgeting team within the Ministry of Finance was a significant institutional change.
Rather than using historical data, that unit worked closely with Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to reconstruct payroll estimates from the ground up. By requiring MDAs to specify who was employed, where they were posted, and the cost of each position, new workforce-linked templates transformed speculation into evidence-based planning. This made it simpler for the Budget Bureau to check submissions, look for discrepancies, and make sure hiring choices were in line with available funds.
Increasing capacity was equally important. Employees at the Ministry of Finance were given practical training to evaluate policy options and analyse payroll data. Instead of responding after overspending had already happened, this analytical uplift allowed for the early identification of risks and the implementation of corrective action during the fiscal year. As a result, the relationship between staffing choices and affordability became stronger and more dynamic.
Immediate and quantifiable results were obtained. For the first time in five years, payroll expenditures were within budgetary constraints in 2024, with payroll execution coming in at 93.2 per cent of the approved budget. Payroll execution was just over 71% by September of 2025, indicating much stricter in-year control and a lower chance of late-stage overruns. This improvement persisted into 2025. Budget teams can now see where pressures are building and address discrepancies before they worsen, thanks to real-time dashboards that show spending against approved figures.
The work has encouraged a more profound institutional change than just the headline figures. Employees in the Accountant General’s Department and Budget Bureau express more confidence in handling payroll as a managed process as opposed to a fixed expense that frequently fluctuates. Because staffing data is closely examined and closely linked to budgetary decisions, MDAs are more accountable. Broader system benefits have resulted from these adjustments, including more consistent in-year cash management, a decrease in the need for emergency reallocations or supplemental budgets, and clearer signals to MDAs about what is feasible within budgetary constraints.
Additionally, better payroll discipline has strengthened Sierra Leone’s standing with development partners and produced a more solid foundation for upcoming reforms. Making payroll correctly is far from a small administrative fix for a nation with limited financial resources; it is essential to improve budgeting, increase accountability, and ensure more dependable public service delivery.
However, these gains are brittle and shouldn’t be used as an excuse for additional tax increases without corresponding spending cuts. When the government increases revenue collection but leaves overall spending unchecked, citizens have good reason to be concerned. The ASI-backed reforms demonstrate that quantifiable advancements can be made without expensive new systems by enhancing data utilisation, fortifying ties throughout the government, and integrating useful skills. It will take sustained discipline in updating payroll data, frequent interaction with MDAs, and continuous collaboration between the accounting and budgeting teams to maintain these gains. Payroll control must continue to be a continuous management process rather than a one-time change.
The government must combine revenue measures with stricter spending control if it is serious about making the Action Year work for regular people. Payroll advancements offer a clear blueprint: improved data, more robust institutions, and responsible procedures can safeguard limited public resources and provide citizens with greater value for their taxes.
