By Alpha Abu
The long drawn-out strike action by the academic staff of all three public universities in Sierra Leone has been called off after President Julius Maada Bio, his Vice President Dr Juldeh Jalloh and other senior government officials held a closed-door meeting with representatives of the striking lecturers at State House yesterday, 2nd February 2021.
Classes are expected to resume today.
The strike had been called right in the middle of final exams last academic year over pay and conditions with a 100% pay rise being the key demand.
In a telephone interview with Politico, the Vice Chancellor of EBK University, Professor Edwin Momoh who led the negotiating committee said both parties had reached an agreement on eight of the 10 proposals put forward by ASA.
He said paramount among these was that they settled for a 50% salary increment effective April this year with a 25% salary increment for tertiary institutions.
ASA’s initial key demand was for a 100% rise in pay as well as a review of other conditions of service for its members.
Other areas favourably addressed by the government were the backlog pay due newly recruited staff, the payment of emoluments for retiring lecturers and efforts to equip universities with proper laboratories. Staff training and capacity development will also be looked into.
Prof. Momoh pointed out that the outstanding issues yet to be immediately resolved were basically demands related to infrastructure rehabilitation and expansion that could see more lecture rooms made available to accommodate the ever growing student population and for there to be a constant supply of energy to the various campuses. Some of the constituent colleges had also asked that quarters and accommodation for them be built and provided with essential services.
He said the atmosphere at the meeting with the President was congenial and expressed the hope that the whole strike issue had been laid to rest.
Lecturers at the Universities of Sierra Leone, Njala and Ernest Bai Koroma began their industrial action late last year. They briefly suspended their earlier class boycott after talks with the Vice President Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, Ministry of Labour officials and Technical and Higher Education authorities but with no clear cut deal struck. On 4th January 2021, they resumed their action delaying the reopening for the new academic year.
Before this breakthrough, the crisis had deepened with threats by student bodies to take to the streets in a peaceful protest. And with the matter having been resolved, the campuses that remained so inactive for several months now will be returning to life again.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online
