Margibi County – The management of the Robert International Airport (RIA) has dismissed one of its employees for allegedly photographing the arrival of boxes believed to be filled with banknotes that were brought into the country through the airport.
Juana Aruna was dismissed on Monday, December 16, 2019. Prior to her dismissal, she worked as a Screener at the RIA for almost 10 years.
According to the dismissal letter, Ms. Aruna was abandoning her duty and gave out misinformation [about the RIA].
She has, however, denied the accusation and has planned to challenge her dismissal in court.
After the reported incident, Madam Aruna was picked up by agents of the National Security Agency and was reportedly interrogated for two days while being held in the custody of the NSA.
Although she has now been released from detention, she claims to be living in fear as a result of threatening messages and calls she has since been receiving from unknown individuals.
Speaking to a team of reporters, Adama P. Suma, Juana’s sister who also worked as a screener at the RIA and was also dismissed, said her sister was wrongfully dismissed by the management of the RIA.
Suma also refuted the allegation by the management of RIA that her sister abandoned work and gave out misinformation to the public.
Suma said her sister was never accorded due process as would be accorded every accused employee, so as to exonerate herself from the allegation or be dismissed if there’s evidence.
“They accused my sister of taking photos of the carton of money and sent [them] to Costa (Henry P. Costa). As a result of this, she was arrested by NSA officers for investigation. She was kept in jail for two days,” Suma said.
“Since December 5, 2019, she has been receiving series of threatening remarks, text messages, and phone calls from unknown persons.”
When contacted, the Deputy Managing Director for Administration at the RIA, Martin Hayes confirmed that Juana Aruna was dismissed for abandoning her duty and giving out misinformation.
However, Mr. Hayes could not say what kind of “misinformation” was given out by Ms. Aruna but Hayes confirmed the arrival of cartons of banknotes at the RIA.
Also speaking in an interview, the Head of Marketing and Public Relations at the RIA, Ebenezer Mass Wilson said Juana Aruna was dismissed in keeping with internal procedures that guide the behavior of employees on their job.
“I may not know her definition for what constitutes a wrongful dismissal; what I am aware of is that management – with the employee’s handbook – has taken an action in keeping with the handbook and that action was effected.”
Wilson continues: “If the employee in question has got problem with the decision of management, it will be in her own interest to seek legal recourse. In the meantime, I think management acted appropriately and promptly in keeping with the internal procedures that we have that guide the behavior of employees on the job.”
When questioned what behavior initiated the dismissal of Juana Aruna, Wilson replied: “That is the question that the employee in question will have to answer but what I can say on the record is that management acted in keeping with our policies.”