[ 2014-08-29 ]

South Sudan Embassy Abuse Ghanaian Staff
The local Ghanaian staff of the South Sudan
Embassy in Accra have been sacked after they
opposed the reduction of their monthly salaries.

The officials of the Embassy, when contacted,
attributed the pay cut to the on-going civil war
in the new republic.

However, an official at the South Sudan Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
in Juba, the capital, revealed that no decision
has been taken to reduce the salaries of local
staff at the diplomatic missions abroad.

South Sudan, after 21 years of liberation fight
with Sudan, gained independence on July 9, 2011.

The new independent country promptly opened an
embassy in Accra, Ghana.

According to sources, the local Ghanaian staff are
crucial to the operations of the embassy.

Indeed, they toiled with the new Ambassador, His
Excellency Ambrose Raphael Tamania for a whole
year without pay.

It was also gathered that a local senior staff
even acted as the ambassador on several occasions
when Ambassador Tamania was not available.

On June 25, 2014, the ambassador's tour of duty
ended and was reassigned to the Democratic
Republic of Congo (Congo DR).

A new official, Polino Choty, was dispatched from
South Sudan to man the office as administrative
attaché pending the appointment of new
ambassador. She was also the acting Ambassador.

With the arrival of the new diplomatic official,
she held a meeting with the entire local staff and
informed them about the reduction of their
salaries and gave them new contract to sign.

The staff realized that their salaries had been
reduced in flagrant disregard for the labour laws
of Ghana. In addition, the agreement had many
flaws in it.

Under the guise of war and suffering in South
Sudan, the acting Ambassador tried to coerce them
to accept the salary reduction.

A source from the South Sudan Embassy also accused
the Ghanaian staff of leaking sensitive
information to outsiders.

Indeed, in the contract agreement, the Ghanaians
were placed on six-month fixed contracts.

Per the agreement, the local staff could be laid
off after the first six months and no compensation
would be paid.

The staff therefore refused to sign the agreement
leading to their dismissal.

Indeed, the local Ghanaian staff indicated that
they were being treated with contempt, which
violates the country's laws.

It was gathered that all staff had been sacked and
that their July and August salaries had not been
paid.

Another pathetic story was that a single mother
with three children, who was also dismissed
without any explanation or compensation, took care
of the former ambassador's kids when they were in
Ghana.

Unfortunately, her mandatory six months' salary
was not paid before she was dismissed.

The paper learnt that the local staff had decided
to take legal action against the officials of the
embassy.

Source - Daily Guide

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