The Government of Liberia, through the Civil Service Agency (CSA), the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) says it does not owe health workers of the C. H. Rennie Hospital who staged a protest Monday over ‘unpaid salaries.
Chanting ‘no work, no pay, the over 40 health workers barricaded the main gate to the hospital to protest against what they said was the government’s inability to pay their outstanding 30 months’ salary arrears. The protesting health workers also said they have been serving as volunteers at the hospital for over five years without receiving a penny from the government.
But the government Tuesday clarified that those protesting workers at the hospital are not full employees of the government but non-clinical volunteers who are paid from internally generated resources at their health facilities.
“These volunteers are usually absorbed and get fully employed through the Government t of Liberia direct job replacement policy and strategy once vacancies are created in their facilities and other entities of government,” the government said in a release.
The government said as part of its engagement with Consortium of Public Sector Workers, through the Civil Service Agency, is currently reviewing and restructuring the volunteering policy across the health and education sectors and wants to encourage and reassure volunteers that permanent employment and subsequent placement on the GoL payroll would be prioritized during the upcoming recruitment from the volunteer pool.
The Government of Liberia also wants to reiterate that it is through constructive engagements, not protests, that these policy changes and developments are obtained.
The workers told Liberia Public Radio that they have been issued letters of assignment from the Human Resource Department that they have been acting on since 2015 and have taken salary twice since the insertion of the Weah administration.
The aggrieved workers also denied doctors, nurses and Administrators access to the hospital compound
The spokesperson of the aggrieved workers Steve Jallah told Liberia Public Radio that the protest was their last alternative after several pleads to health authorities and the county legislative Caucus went unaddressed.
Jallah added that they have been paid as contractors since their assignment at the hospital without knowing the source of their salaries.
He admitted that on several occasions they have written members of the County Legislative caucus and other authorities to address the issue but it has fallen on death ears.
Comments are closed.