By Prince j Musa in Kenema
The management of Eastern Polytechnic has been accused of tax evasion involving Le2.2 billion.
The money is said to be deductions made from salaries of staff of the Kenema-based learning institution for a period between 2018 and 2019.
The National Revenue Authority (NRA) said the college owes it Le1.8 billion for six months in 2018 and Le400 million for the months of March and April of 2019.
Desmond Tommy, NRA’s Regional Manager East, said the college’s administration has also reneged on a settlement agreement they reached to pay the money by instalment.
The issue was the subject of discussion at a recent meeting between the college administration and the Commissioner General of NRA, Dr Samuel Jibao. It was at that meeting last month they agreed that the college will make a monthly payment of Le100million. Tommy said they also agreed that the college should make an undertaking in writing to the effect.
“The polytechnic administration has not yet honored what was agreed and has failed to produce a payment plan for the NRA,” Tommy told Politico. He added that if the college had been a privately run institution, they would have wasted no time to shut it down.
Founded in 2001, Eastern Polytechnic is the highest level tertiary institution in the eastern region of Sierra Leone, which comprises the districts of Kenema, Kailahun and Kono. Besides its main campus in Kenema, which is the largest among the three districts, the college has additional campuses at Bunumbu in Kailahun and Woama in Kono.
There have been clamor for the college to be transformed into a university status.
The college administration confirmed the NRA’s claim, but am official said they were working hard to address the situation.
Abdul Karim Koroma, Finance Officer of Eastern Polytechnic, said several factors have connived to occasion the situation, including under-funding of the institution, which has forced the administration to divert monies deducted as Pay-As-You-Earn tax.
According to Koroma, the college always receive far less than it requires to run the institution.
In 2016, for instance, he said while they requested for Le21 billion, they were eventually allocated Le16.8 billion. Le16.5 billion of that amount went into wage bill. That year the school raised only Le2.9 billion from tuition fees. It therefore had a deficit of Le1.3 billion to meet its running cost.
In 2018, the wage bill went up slightly at Le17.7billion. Koroma said while the college requested for Le23 billion, it only received Le16.8 billion.
According to Koroma, up to this point [May 2019], lecturers and staff were yet to receive their salary for April. Koroma noted that with this situation, there was no way the college could go without incurring debts.
“And we are not alone in this situation,” he stated, citing other colleges across the country that were dealing with similar situations.
The Eastern Polytech Finance Officer went on to say that following a recent meeting with relevant stakeholders, the Government has assured to help them alleviate the problems.
But despite its financial difficulties, the college has been able to do some construction work, including a standard library and an amphitheater. Koroma said they did so through revenue raised from tuition fees.
© 2019 Politico Online
