More than 4,000 retired civil servants are demanding three-month arrears from the government.
Speaking to the Hot Pepper, the Spokesman of the Concerned Retirees, George Nyankan, said the failure of the government to settle their arrears is causing serious hardship for them and their families, and that there is a dire need for the government to settle their arrears without delay.
Nyankan said the failure of the government to meet their financial obligation will force them to organize a protest soon, in order to draw government’s attention to their plight.
He said it is regrettable to note that “since we entered 2020 the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government only paid us two months, January and February”. He disclosed that they received their January salary in April and the February salary on June 2, 2020.
Nyankan said, beside the planned protest, they have reached an agreement to write the Liberian Senate to invite the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Samuel Tweah, to show reason for not paying the retirees when month ends.
Meanwhile, Spokesman Nyankan has frowned on the management of the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP) for not handling their financial obligation to the former workers of government, despite the promise to them during the 2019 Civil Service Agency and Social Security vetting process, held in September at the William V.S. Tubman High School.
He alleged that during the vetting process a representative of Social Security told the former workers that each person would receive more than L$5,000 per month to enable him to cater to their families. But contrarily, Social Security is paying them a little over L$2,000, which cannot even purchase a 25kg bag of rice.
He appealed to NASSCORP to increase their pay from L$2,000 to L$4,000 to enable them to send their children to school and meet other domestic needs.