By Ezekiel Nabieu
The incumbent APC government has been all along priding itself as a grassroots one in contrast to the rival, SLPP, which the APC tags as elitist. One would have expected that if that assertion by the APC was not merely lip service, they would have been seen to care for their downtrodden and scum-of-the-earth compatriots. In practice, the APC is anything but grassroots. They are in fact displaying all the antics and gimmicks of aristocracy far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife.
In the matter of pensions, we have two of our recent heads of state namely the late Tejan Kabbah and the incumbent Ernest Bai Koroma, with two diametrically opposed approaches to the issue. Tejan Kabbah could be said to have been born of middle class parents but he later lived an upper class life in which he enjoyed the goodies of life. Ernest Koroma also was born of middle class parents but having been lifted, up by fortuitous circumstances, he now seems to have scorned the base degrees by which he did ascend. They were preceded by the notorious Siaka Stevens who came from a lower class family but had a rough and tough life even becoming a dog catcher in the Sierra Leone police force that endeared him to the life of the common man. Therefore, he strove to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor in wages. Not so with the pompous Ernest Bai Koroma, who does not seem to care for the common man as he runs his fastest growing economy which is not reflected in the lives of the poor. Judging by the contempt with which the president has been treating the Human Rights Commission, it could easily be concluded that the president would not care if some of his subjects are living according to animal rights.
Here is a man who had to be recipient of a loan of US $34,000 (thirty-four thousand dollars) to conduct his presidential campaign, now becoming reportedly the fourth richest head of state in Africa within six years, even with the salary and pre-requisites he is entitled to. How come? What is the essence of the declaration of assets? From his pinnacle, he looks down on the rest of his ill-fated compatriots like automatons. Do you blame him?
PENSIONERS DUMPED
It is ironic that Ernest Bai Koroma who is now disregarding pensioners was chairman of NASSIT, the brainchild of Tejan Kabbah. It could be surmised that in his heart of hearts, he would not have been in favour of its formation but he couldn’t help it. Now, instead of continuing in the spirit of NASSIT, he is virtually dampening it by maintaining pensions as they were before NASSIT. I know of pensioners in this day and age who are still receiving Le 29,000 (twenty-nine thousand Leones) a month after serving the government of Sierra Leone for over 20 years. Meanwhile, an office cleaner who is employed today will earn Le 480,000 (four hundred and eighty thousand Leones) monthly. Aye boh! Are we in the same republic, purchasing in the same market? Is this not a case of man’s inhumanity to man? Yes indeed, this is one of the greatest thoughts in the universe. There are now two strata of pensioners namely; those who retired before the advent of NASSIT and those who retired after. It may amaze readers that while some pre-NASSIT pensioners are being rewarded with as low as the amount stated above, there are others in the NASSIT era who are earning as high as Le 6m (six million Leones) a month. When the state can lose Le 82 billion to private pockets of the Agenda for Prosperity according to the Auditor-General’s report, it is easy to see that such amounts could have been used judiciously by a humane government to augment the pensions of the needy pensioners who have been reduced to beggardom through no fault of theirs. Indeed the first tier of pensioners have been reduced to relentless hell and forced to live beneath civilized society. They should be rewarded not for treason to Sierra Leone but for honest labour. The pension list should be a roll of honor and not a roll of dishonor as the inhuman APC government has turned it out to be.
Let me end by quoting a parable from Jesus Christ about the rich man and Lazarus. The APC government representing the rich man is treating the hapless pensioners as a bunch of Lazaruses, feeding from the crumbs falling from the table of the Agenda for Prosperity. Why should the least pensioner also not earn Le 480,000? Verbum sapientum.
(C) Politico 15/04/14
