S Leoneans deported from Iraq
Freetown – Eighty-six Sierra Leoneans who went to Iraq as contract workers in various fields have been deported for striking, theft and falling pregnant, the employment ministry said Friday.
The overseas employment co-ordinator Ahmed Mansaray said  that workers had staged a series of industrial strikes over their wages, despite agreeing on a wage of $250 a month before leaving in December 2009.
“The workers were demanding an increase in their salaries from $250 to $900. As far as the ministry is concerned, all terms and conditions signed for in the agreement were fulfilled,” he said.
According to Mansaray, the government had wanted to negotiate increases before the workers left, but “they insisted that they would not like to be delayed and were ready to accept the job even if they were paid a mere $50. Now they have come back to complain. I cannot understand this.”
War-torn Iraq has attracted the attention of thousands of unemployed youths in Sierra Leone which is itself recovering from a decade-long war which ended in 2002 and left 120 000 dead.
About 10 000 Sierra Leoneans have been pegged to be recruited by the British firm of Sabre International for jobs in Baghdad, with the first of them having left six months ago.
According to the employment ministry, more than 2 000 Sierra Leoneans work in Iraq, mainly in construction but also as domestic servants, drivers, security guards and nurses.
“Some of the women who were deported had become pregnant while some workers were deported for theft. The various construction companies that had employed these workers have lost over $350000 dollars to repatriate the group,” said Mansaray.
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