By Abass Jalloh
The Minister of Technical and Higher Education, Prof. Aiah Gbakima, has challenged the Academic Staff Association of the University of Sierra Leone (ASA-USL) to produce proof of agreement for a 100% salary adjustment that association claimed the ministry had committed to.
According to the Minister, ASA requested a 100% salary adjustment and wanted three months backlog to be paid to all the staff and that they expected monies to be paid to 17 staff at COMAHS who are yet to be on the government payroll. He added that every member of staff at all government institutions – both academic and administrative - are now being paid by government.
“ASA is kicking against that. They forgot that these are government institutions; they don’t make the law for the government. So they are now being paid. Why did we take that step with Finance? It’s because when the subvention was sent to them, they paid the staff, but they did not pay as PAYE and NASSIT. So the university has agreed to pay the three months backlog to them,” he said.
The minister went on to say that the university has also agreed that they would pay for those 17 staff of COMAHS and noted that they have met with ASA which insisted for a signature of 100% salary adjustment by the end of January 2021.
“COMAHS is in a peculiar position. Most of their staff are already being paid from the consolidated fund. So if government goes back and pay them, it is double dipping,” he said.
The general students’ union body of the three constituent colleges of Fourah Bay College, Institute of Public Administration and Management, and College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, on Wednesday, 25th November, issued a press statement indicating their position on the continued indefinite strike action, which they say has prevented the students from going on with their exams. The students’ body called for the resolution of the issue with utmost urgency.
“We the students have exercised patience and restraint in respecting the table of dialogue, believing that something good was going to come out of the negotiations in days past. The depression or psychological effect this has on students cannot be measured,” the statement reads, warning that they will lose patience if the situation is not addressed.
“We want to make it clear that our limit of restraint and reliance on a positive outcome from the ongoing negotiations does not go beyond Friday, 27th November, 2020, 5:00 PM. We say this with the strongest of convictions that should there be no positive result informing us of a swift continuity of exams, starting Monday 1st December, 2020, we the students will make our voices heard even harder in ways provided for by law,” it reads.
In its latest press statement published on Wednesday 25th November, ASA maintained their stance of continuing the industrial action, if they didn’t come to an agreement with the government.
Politico understands that the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Alpha Timbo, convened a joint meeting between ASA and the university administration to mediate between their differences. As at the time of going to press, there were no indication about the outcome of that meeting.
Efforts to reach out to ASA proved futile.
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