South Sudan Embassy Abuse Ghanaian Staff

His Excellency, Ambrose Raphael Tamania, former Ambassador of South Sudan to Ghana.

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.

DAILY GIUDE further 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.

 
 
 
 
 
 

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