THE 45,000 MEMBERSHIP and staff of the defunct National Disarmament and Demobilization Commission (NDDC) are appealing to the government of President George Manneh Weah to settle the US$200,000 in salary arrears and benefits allegedly owed them. They have expressed dissatisfaction in the government’s delay in settling the arrears which, in their understanding, amounts to the government reneging on its promise.
ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2021, at the NDDC office at the former Ministry of National Defense, Benson Street, the Executive Director and Spokesman, Alexander M. Zinnah, expressed the disapproval of the 45,000 membership of the NDDC in regards to the government’s meeting its obligation to the leadership of the disbanded commission.
PROVIDING INFORMATION TO the public, Executive Director and Spokesman Zinnah explained that initially government owed the NDDC US$360,000, but following a series of discussions with authorities at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) a compromise was reached: the government would disburse US$300,000 to the disbanded soldiers.
HOWEVER, ACCORDING TO the Spokesman, they have received only US$100,000 from the government, which he claimed came from the special commitment budget through the MFDP, with the government making a commitment of paying the balance US$200,000. This commitment, he stated, has not been kept.
THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR and Spokesman continued that they have made much effort, including holding meetings with top members of the CDC-led administration and telephone conversations with Finance and Development Planning Minister, Samuel Tweah, to get government, through the MFDP, to disburse the remaining US$200,000. “We have been shunned, or are yet to receive our just money and benefits whatsoever from the power-that-be,” he said, contrarily.
THE CONSEQUENCE IS obvious. According to Spokesman Zinnah, “The little over 45,000 membership of the NDDC, including 310 staff comprising county coordinators, are living in abject poverty with no food for their families, not to mention affording the tuition of their children at schools across the country. They have therefore resulted to giving the Government of Liberia (GoL) a 14-day ultimatum to settle the balance US$200,000 owed them.
ALTHOUGH THE DISBANDED body of ex-warring factions’ soldiers did not state what their response would be to the government not meeting the ultimatum, such responses as strike actions are the means of redress in such situations. The government is therefore called upon to give attention to the plight of the NDDC.