Monrovia – Redundant workers of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia or NPHIL are calling on the entity to pay their arrears.
Report by Willie N. Tokpah / 00231777039231 ([email protected])
The Spokesperson of the aggrived former employees, Samuel Babajuah told FrontPageAfrica Wednesday that since the termination of their contracts by NPHIL on February 15, 2019, they are yet to receive their arrears in full.
Babajuah said the 15 redundant staffs have engaged the institution through its Director General Tolbert Nyensuah on several occasions but all the discussions have proven fruitless..
“Efforts have been made in seeking the payment of our arrears and benefits which includes salaries – five months, one-month annual leave, one-month severance pay for a period of 14 months, but NPHIL has failed to do so,” Babajuah explained.
“We will blame Mr. Nyensuah for not giving attention to our plight because he’s not in our interest,” he claimed.
They are claiming US$1,400 each and want the amount to be given them within one month period.
He explained that the 15 ex-employees worked under the Cooperative Agreement Project (CoAg) since October 1, 2018, up till the date their contracts were terminated.
According to him, Director Nyensuah has informed them that the delay of their arrears is because fund for the CoAg project has not been released by the United States Center for Disease Control yet.
The CoAg project falls under the Center for Disease Control and is funded by the US government.
“Money that was promised us under the CoAg project did not come on time and we raise the issue with Mr. Nyesuah that our contracts have expired but he informed us that once we have not received letter of termination, our contracts were still ongoing,” Babajuah explained.
However, according to him, the redundancy letters they received addressed them as employees when they were never issued formal employment by NPHIL.
Furthermore, he said the letter did not mention payment of their full salary but rather incentives for their annual leaves which they already received.
Babajuah noted that NPHIL previously gave eight-month salary owed them but said the amount has been used to clear their financial liabilities.
he said they firstly receiving their salaries under the Emergency Medical Service but it was later transfer to the CoAg.
NPHIL came into being in Liberia as a result of the Ebola crisis and the aggrived workers spokesman said they were part of those who were initially hired to work with the agency.
We started working with NPHIL during the Ebola crisis under the Emergency Medical Service at GSA, where the call center was established under the control of Director Mary Broh and Dorbor Jallah serving as its head, he said.
“Later, Mr. Nyensuah assumed responsibility as its head on 18th street before going to its Congo Town, Back Road office, where we were contracted”
The redundant NPHIL Staffs in a communication addressed to US Ambassador Christine Elder on Tuesday, April 2, 2019 called on her to intervene in the situation.
The communication stated: “Madam Ambassador, we are very unhappy with the National Public Health Institute of Liberia with the form and manner in which we were redundant on grounds that all our money was not paid to us as we were leaving and this has given rise to series of situations.”
“Our kids have been put out of classes and even denied from writing test as tuition owe their various institutions have not been paid. Some members have been serve eviction notice by land-lords on grounds that rents haven’t been paid for months, we are family heads and almost all of us can barely get a daily meal for our families while our kids go to bed hungry, universities and colleges have denied us from taking final exams and midterm due to fees owed them.”
Meanwhile, Babajuah is at the same time calling for the intervention of President George Weah into amicably resolving the matter.
NPHIL Director General Tolbert Nyensuah is yet to respond to the situation following text messages, as his Orange Cell Number (0777558621) remained unreachable up to press time.