By Abass Jalloh
A planned meeting convened by the executive of the University of Sierra Leone’s Academic Staff Association (ASA-USL) failed to proceed on Tuesday, 01 December, amidst an ongoing lecturers’ strike over pay.
The meeting, according to ASA, was meant to update members of the association on progress on the industrial action.
A spokesman for the association told Politico that the meeting was postponed to a later date due to rumours on social media of an alleged planned protest by supporters of the main opposition All Peoples Party Congress (APC), amidst heavy security presence across Freetown.
James Tamba Lebbie, Public Relations Officer of ASA, clarified that the meeting was an “intra-ASA meeting” and “not ASA-USL meeting”. He said the meeting was meant to update the general membership of ASA on their current situation.
“It didn’t hold because we postponed it to Friday. We heard that some people on social media alleged to be APC members called for a demonstration,” Mr Lebbie said, noting that they never wanted for their meeting to be misunderstood or be taken advantage of by people with ulterior motives.
ASA’s strike was prompted by what it says is a failure of the government to fulfill a promise of adjusting salaries of staff of the university. The lecturers were angered by the move after the Finance Ministry presented the 2021 budget to parliament. The strike comes just as the university commenced examination for second semester. The halt on the exams have raised concern among the students, who are calling for the lecturers and the government to seek rapid resolution to the issue.
Last week Friday, 17th November 2020, the Students’ Union Government of the University of Sierra Leone (SUG-USL) issued what sounded like a warning statement, saying that they have lost patience in the university administration. In the statement signed by the leaders of the student bodies of the three constituent colleges that make up the USL, they warned that should there be no positive outcome from the negotiations between ASA and the University administration for the examinations to commence, students will make their “voices heard even harder in ways provided for by law”.
Politico learnt that the SUG-USL is expected to host a press conference today, December 2nd, after the expiry of its ultimatum.
“The agenda for the Press Conference is set around the on-going ASA-USL Industrial Action, the inability of the University of Sierra Leone Administration – through the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, to put the issue to rest, and its propelling propensity to unduly disadvantage students at the thick of the Second Semester Examinations,” the statement sent to the press and civil society partly reads.
ASA commences the industrial action after the Ministry of Finance released the 2021 budget and financial statement. Which according to them do not reflect their “agreed” 100% salary adjustment and three months backlog to be paid to all the staff and that, monies are expected to be paid to 17 staff at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS).
However, according to a press statement from the USL, which was issued on the 27th November, 2020, ASA-USL has made three demands and that two of those demands have been addressed by the university administration.
“The third demand of ASA-USL for 100% salary adjustment to be reflected in their net salary effective January 2021 requires the intervention of the superintending Government Ministries,” the statement reads.
Copyright © 2020 Politico Online
