War Widows Write President Koroma
War widows in Sierra Leone have written a pathetic letter to the President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, begging him to intervene to ensure that they get their payments recommended for them by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The letter, which was displayed by the widows while protesting peacefully around State House, highlighted that since President Koroma mandated the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) to register war widows, amputees and war wounded during the repatriation program in 2009, war widows have so far received only three hundred thousand Leones each.
The letter went on that In 2016, they were called for verification which they went through and after which they were invited to the NaCSA office in the first week of December last year only to be given nothing and told to come again in the first week in January and when they came, nothing again was given to them.
According to the letter, on the 22nd May 2017, war widows visited NaCSA again and were told that the country was going through financial difficulties as evident in the austerity measures but that President Koroma had ordered that Le1 million be given to each of them.
The correspondence further stated that during the registration, each of the widows was instructed to register three school going children with the promise that government would not only take up responsibility for their education but also provide other facilities for them but the promise turned out to be vain.
The letter revealed that the amputees received Le9 million, war wounded collected Le6,5 million each, but war widows and their children have so far benefited only Le300,000 each from the repatriation program.
By Abdul S. Kamara
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