By Tony Yayo
Thousands of widows and orphans of former soldiers of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) are calling on the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to pay them their monthly pensions, which they claim the government owed them for the past three months.
They made the call recently to this press following the end of the three days lockdown and the announcement of new preventive measures by the government to help curb the spread of the COVID 19 outbreak.
Speaking to this press, one of the widows, Hannah Koroma, said that all of them are wives and children of former soldiers of RSLAF who served this country throughout their lifetime. She revealed that since the start of this year they have not received any pension payment from the government, a situation, she noted, that has serious social and economic concerns.
According to Hannah Koroma, most of them have completed the verification exercise with the MOF and have been struggling to cope especially at a time when the nation is grappling with the COVID-19 outbreak and the fact that most of them are single parents.
Another widow, Memunatu Turay, told this press that last year President Rtd. Brig Julius Maada Bio announced an increase in the amount of money paid to them as pension. However, she disclosed that since the announcement, they are yet to receive payment under the revised amount.
They also revealed some of the stresses and barriers they encounter with NASSIT staff whenever they want to make enquiries about their monies or make withdrawals.
On behalf of all of them aggrieved widows, Hannah Koroma called on the Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa, to consider them and make payment to their respective NASSIT accounts. She however praised the Ministry for all the good work and assistance it had been rendering the widows and orphans nationwide.
Meanwhile an official at MOF, Abu Bakarr Kamara, told this press that the government has been paying the pensions of these widows and orphans. He stated that the delay this year is due to the verification exercise conducted by the Ministry to ascertain real widows and orphans from fake ones. He told this press that the government has been losing lots of finances from the payment of pensions to illegal people and that, this time round, they want to make sure that they block all the leakages in that area.