A Concern Teacher, John Sheku Koroma is calling on his fellow teachers to stand up and demand for their benefits to be accounted for by the sierra Leone teachers union.
“Colleagues, the SLTU for far too long has held the Union and its membership to ransom by reneging from its responsibilities. Visa vie the high union dues collected from teachers amounting to seven hundred and twenty million Leones (720,000,000) per month from forty thousand (40,000) teachers and over 7.6 billion Leones a year must be accounted for hence forth for the benefit of every teacher. Colleagues is now time we act for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to mount an investigation into the SLTU” He says. he added that there are evidences to prove his claim which he highlighted below;
1) The awarding of female Scholarship (method of awarding)
2) Canadian/Norwegian and other scholarships and donations for enhancement of teachers and the Hotel 510 construction project
3) Savings and withdrawals from foreign bank accounts
4) UNICEF, ACTION AID and other NGOs sponsorship towards teacher training Seminars not from SLTU coffers
5) Proceeds from the Orange Sierra Leone communication marks erected at the confines of the Hotel 510
6) Cooperative Shop (Teachers’ Unit) by Low-cost step
7) The estate at Jui Grafton Kossoh Town. (Who owns them, SLTU or SLTU Executive?)
8) Donations towards Women teachers training programs
9) The recent conscription of the last 5,000 teachers by President Bio’s Government with them signing no agreement with the SLTU. Gross violation of the1991 National Constitution, article 26 (1)
10) Affiliation of SLTU with eighty (80) Unions worldwide. Who always donate to SLTU
11) The fraudulent union construction (no benefits for teachers and electioniary method is highly criminal)
12) Motor Cycles donated by UNICEF and other items by other international NGOs and Agencies.
He furthered that a clandestine plan is on the way to increase the union due, starting soonest upon the completion in signing the form for the so call ID card. He said the SLTU is hiding behind NASSIT to implement their clandestine plan and advised his colleagues to be careful when they go for NASSIT verification. he continued that the SLTU form has nothing to do with the NASSIT operation, therefore, they should rise to this challenge these few people in the SLTU have taken to them the forty thousand teachers and make sure their issues are looked in to and judged with all sincerity.
“We should not allow the few to succeed over the majority. Let us fight this vicious cycle of inequality from all parameters of its ramification. Next is salary harmonization instead of salary increment that has not taken us anywhere for the past years. I will give you details in my next presentation” he concludes.