SALPOST boss optimistic about the future
Freetown, Feb. 17 (SLENA) – The new Managing Director of the Sierra Leone Postal Services (SALPOST) has said in a recent interview with the Sierra Leone News Agency that it was wrong in the first place to blame the establishment for the financial meltdown that it, leading to the shutting down of the Post Office Savings Bank.
The closure of the bank several years back compounded the plight of depositors and rendered SALPOST irrelevant especially in the wake of foreign investments in the communication industry.
Mr. Samuel J. Koroma is the new Managing Director. He spoke to SLENA about his determination to revamp the fortunes of SALPOST by improving not just the quality of mail delivery service but also rehabilitate SALPOST offices all over the country.
He said he has been able to lobby and receive a boost from the Unites States Postal Services with computers and other accessories to help improve mail delivery services and at the same time be able to provide internet services to the public.
Also, he went on, the government of Sierra Leone has disbursed the sum of two billion leones to the department to settle liabilities of SALPOST retirees and survivors.
Mr. Koroma said with donor and government interventions, SALPOST will be in a better position to provide additional service delivery to the public, such as processing of passport forms, issuance of licenses and other social services.
On the Post Office Savings Bank and other challenges ahead, the Managing Director said when he took over in 2013 he discovered that most of the employees have never received the requisite training to perform their duties effectively.
“Secondly, I inherited debts and arrears to the tune of billions of leones,” he disclosed, adding that monies have not been paid to individuals who had the post office savings bank accounts.
“Some of these problems have persisted for a very long time. However, some of them have been forwarded to the central government, and it is finding ways to help solve them,” Mr. Koroma added.
On the new technologies to aid communication and how he hopes to cope with the advent of mobile phones, the Salpost boss said they hope to take advantage of the new technology by applying the same or using the very technology to improve communication in the postal service system. “As a matter of fact, people take advantage of technological advancement in the use of cell phones which have great impact on the lives of people; we’ll do the same,” he concluded.
DV/SLENA
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