Over 15% rent allowance Sierra Leone’s Chief Minister demoralizes lecturers
The Chief Minister in the Bio-led Government has made sweeping public statements that have possibly demoralized lecturers and exposed them to public ridicule.
Jacob Jusu Saffa (in photo) referred to lecturers as not being “grateful” and that his government had done so much to make them comfortable and live a higher standard of life they never lived before.
He made the statements on air while responding to a concern raised about the non-inclusion of the 15% rent allowance that has not reflected in the new increment in the salaries of the academic staff, due to failure of officials at the ministry of finance to do correct computation.
“Our rent allowance should be 15% of our basic salary which they did not factor in the 50% increment”, said a lecturer at IPAM.
The issue had been the subject of back and forth between the Academic Staff Association (ASA) and the Ministries of Finance and Technical and Higher Education.
Credible sources confided in Sierra Express that both the Financial Secretary and the Permanent Secretary at the Finance Ministry had treated official correspondences sent to them by ASA with levity by failing to acknowledge the said letters.
In letter dated 20th May 2021, with the subject, addressed to the Minister of Technical and Higher Education titled “Reporting Anomalies in April Salary”, ASA drew the attention of the minister to what they believe were anomalies in the calculation of their new basic salary. They appealed to the Minister to summon all the parties to address the issue amicably.
“We believe that these are simple tax deductions that should not have landed us in any quagmire”, the letter stated.
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