PHOTO: Correction Palace gate (left) and the pickup that developed mechanical fault since 2019
By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
ZWEDRU, Liberia- Credible sources at the Zwedru National Correction Palaceof Correction in the southeastern Grand Gedeh County have threatened strike action about constant pay cut in their meagre salaries.
According to some them, who prefer not to be named, for several months now, they have been experiencing reduction in their already small wages ‘without justifiable reasons’.
They traced the situation to the CDC government’s controversial salaries harmonization process. This is happening when they are going through lots of economic hardship and constraints, the aggrieved Correction officers explained.
Besides the pay cut, they spoke of logistical and other constraints at this maximum security prison.
“Imagine, we have a pickup that developed a mechanical fault ever since, which cost U$250 in 2019. And said mechanical fault has been reported to the Ministry of Justice. But they are yet to solve the said problem facing the pickup used to transport inmates,” one of the Zwedru prison Correction officer told www.newspublictrust.com.
Reports gathered by this Reporter show that it is not only Correction Officers at the Zwedru Correction Palace that are complaining.
At the Kakata Central Prison in Margibi County, there are similar complaints. For now, they are said to be holding their peace to see whether the matter could be resolved by their bosses at the Ministry of Justice. But if there is no action, similar threat of strike action could be made publically.
General plight of Correction Officers
Correction officers at various prison facilities across Liberia have to all the times use their own money to transport inmates on motorbikes due to the lack of vehicles, something they term as risky for both correction officers and the inmates.
At the Tubmanburg Central Prison in Liberia’s western Bomi County, a jeep that used to transport inmates developed a machincal fault in 2017, has since been parked in front of the prison facility without any intervention by the Ministry of Justice. This is despite several communications written to those responsible at the Ministry of f Justice.
Correction officers in that part of Liberia usually transport inmates to court on motorbike, thereby risking their lives to perform their duties.
If this kind of situation is happening in counties close to the capital city, Monrovia, one can just imagine what’s happening in hard-to-reach places in rural Liberia.
Meanwhile, the Assistant Minister of Justice, who is visiting Grand Gedeh County, has scheduled a meeting with the Correction Officers to listen to their grievances and find way forward to their plight.