By Umaru Fofana
1,300 amputees and other severely wounded war victims across the country have started receiving Le 6 million (US$ 1,400) each as one-off payment of pension and health care for their children totalling Le 7.8 billion (US$ 1,820,000). The exercise is expected to be completed on 31 October. According to the Director of Reparation at the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA), Obi Buya-Kamara, the money has been provided by the United Nations Multi Partners Trust Fund. He said the amount was a one-off cash donation intended for the beneficiaries to use as a revolving fund for their upkeep and the care of their families with no further assistance to be rendered to those people who lost their arms and limbs during the rebel war of the 1990s. The beneficiaries have protested against the one-off payment. The president of the Sierra Leone Amputee and War Wounded Association, Edward Conteh told Politico that it was “unfair that only Le 6 million is given to us for the rest of our lives and the lives of our children”. He said there was hardly anything they could do with the amount to make it multiply and sustained especially in those remote areas where they have their shelter built for them by the Norwegian Friends of Sierra Leone. Conteh said that once he collected his, he used it to pay fees for his son who is studying Information Technology at the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM) leaving him with only Le 1 million. The amputee president urged government to respect the dictates of the Lome Peace Agreement that ended the war, which he said provided for a certain percentage of the country’s mineral resources to go towards the care of war victims. He said they wanted the provision of basic services to them as well as scholarship for their children. Conteh also alleged that some of his members, including those who had four of their five fingers chopped off, had been left out on payment of the money. He would not give exact figures since payment was still ongoing. He said that already some had contacted him with complaints of having been left out. But the NaCSA reparation office denied that anyone deserving of receiving the money had been left out, “unless they were evaluated and not certified by a specialist medical doctor”, a process they said all amputees had to go through. (C) Politico 10/10/13
