By Francis H. Murray
The Sierra Leone Student’s Union in China (SLSUC) has dismissed allegations making the rounds on social media that the Sierra Leonean Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, Ernest Mbaimba Ndomahina, has embezzled funds of the union and is also meddling in its politics. Ambassador Ndomahina is alleged to have imposed the union’s current leadership on the rest of the members.
The student union in a press statement issued on Tuesday dismissed all the allegations, accusing a blogger of spreading misleading information about the ambassador.
The union said it conducted a democratic election online on 15th August 2020, and that the outcome was ‘‘overwhelmingly accepted’’ by the registered and paid up members of the union. It further dismissed all claims of another pending election in September 2020.
The union stated that it has eight thousand, seven hundred and fifty five United States Dollars ($8,755), the equivalent of 61,285 Yuan in a ‘‘well-established and secured account’’.
‘‘I would like to authoritatively inform […] fellow Sierra Leoneans that Ambassador Ndomahina has never, under any circumstances, unlawfully held or embezzled the union’s fund as purported,’’ the statement read.
The president of the union went on to note that the embassy has assisted the union in its advocacy for waivering of the $80 COVID 19 Nucleic test fee that was to be paid by graduates upon arrival in Sierra Leone, adding that the sum of 100 Yuan each has been provided as lunch to 50 graduates who were scheduled to depart China on the 4th September 2020.
The union went on to assure the general public that the social media claims have no basis and did not reflect the greater views of its general membership, stressing that the union is currently controlled by a democratically elected executive that is spearheading the departure of all Sierra Leonean graduates back to the country.
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