By Isaac Massaquoi
I hope Pallo Conteh actually carried out his threat to sack the Ebola burial team which launched that disgraceful strike in Kenema the other day. I understand the team thoroughly regretted displaying dead bodies at the entrance to the hospital to demonstrate their anger over the failure of the authorities to pay their risk allowances for two months. Public reaction was largely negative towards them. If this was the way other sectors of society acted under such conditions, we would be living an iron-age existence in the 21st century. By the same analogy, would it be a good idea, for example, if unpaid nursery school teachers held their pupils hostage to force school proprietors to pay their salaries? This strike went too far.
There's no doubt that at this time in the nation's history, the last people that should go on strike are all those on the frontline in the war against the dreaded and deadly Ebola virus that continue to ravage our communities, and burial teams are an integral part of that structure.
When the history of this Ebola attack comes to be written, the burial teams as a whole, would be favourably mentioned. So when those in Kenema decided to embarrass themselves and their families by displaying corpses at strategic places in the main health facility there, they made their continued employment by the state totally impossible.
If they thought by doing what they did they were shaming the authorities into paying their salaries and allowances, then I suggest to them that in the short-term the government will pay and probably has now paid the backlog allowances. But for a long time to come the members of that burial team will find themselves at war with their consciences. Their behaviour was as odious as it was unacceptable. I am even surprised that criminal prosecutions are not taking place now of members of that team who actually picked up those corpses on the understanding they would bury them but ended up throwing them around to force the authorities to pay their salaries. This was an incredible own-goal indeed and Pallo Conteh was right to sack them.
Simply refusing to carry out their duties for a single day was enough to call attention to their plight so that the government could act, and quickly too. Since the Kenema strike, health workers in Kono have also embarked on a strike for same reason. As I write this, health workers in Bombali are contacting journalists to inform them that they too intend to walk out soon for the delay in paying their salaries and allowances. That should send a clear message to Pallo Conteh that the strikes are about money not politics.
The second and most controversial of this debacle is Pallo Conteh's attack on the burial team, accusing them of making political statements in furtherance of their strike. Many who heard him on radio when news of the strike broke were disappointed at the way he handled himself in that interview. He should have realised that because politicians were the ones who had to make payment decisions, the workers were certainly going to say unpleasant things about politicians. I am not sure the NERC CEO is aware of how much people distrust politicians like him. There are many people who believe that if our politicians had acted while Guinea and Liberia were being battered by the virus, innocent Sierra Leonean lives would have been saved. Our economy and our education system wouldn't be in such a mess.
There will be political accountability when this is over - the people will ask their politicians to explain why Sierra Leone failed so spectacularly where Senegal, Ivory Coast and Mali succeeded.
But I have to say this to our CEO of NERC. His first task is basically to make sure none of his workers go on strike for anything - monthly salary, hazard allowance, protective clothing and everything connected even remotely to our fight against Ebola. He has to keep all the wheels moving toward the objective of freeing Sierra Leone from the choking grip of the Ebola virus. I am not suggesting that the Kenema strike happened because he was negligent. But I wouldn't quarrel with anyone who accuses him of letting his guard down. The strike came in the wake of Pallo Conteh telling the nation that ghost workers, whose cousins are accused of plaguing the education system in this country for so long, have suddenly appeared in the Ebola war. Could it be then that Conteh spoke too soon and that the workers whose legitimacy he questioned were actually bona fide members of staff in those facilities?
Pallo Conteh accused some of the striking burial team members of making political statements. While I hate the fact that everything in this country, including one's choice of soft drinks, is now understood in terms of their political preferences, I have to ask why Conteh found it necessary to suggest that politics was at the heart of the workers’ strike instead of focusing on money which everybody else knew was the real subject matter? This being Sierra Leone and with the strike taking place in Kenema, which is the APC's political ground zero, I think I understand why Conteh decided to throw in the political card. It was to get partisans onboard.
In the military where Conteh comes from, we understand soldiers are told to always obey and complain later. But in the civil world, it's never that straightforward as Conteh would imagine. Why is he so upset about public servants making political statements in favour of his government? We have numerous examples of that. Why is he not saying a word when some information attachés, paid from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, are constantly attacking opposition politicians using government time and facilities?
If political statements were made as alleged by Pallo Conteh without proof, I believe the striking workers merely distracted themselves from their main objective. If true they did, it was tactically wrong and may well have turned off some people who initially supported them.
I am at a loss as to why Pallo Conteh is not so concerned when civil servants try to ingratiate themselves with those in power by taking out party cards and using official functions to attack the opposition. That's wrong too, you know.
Can you imagine the Information officer at the British High Commission writing an article in The Telegraph attacking Ed Milliband, the opposition leader in his country? He will be out of job in 24 hours. So I believe the burial team miscalculated and allowed their frustration to override their reasoning. So did Pallo Conteh. In any case, how I wish what is good for the goose was also good for the gander.
Sacking the Kenema burial team is a small part of what the people of Sierra Leone want from Pallo Conteh and this government. The people can't understand why with all the huge local and international resources poured into this fight, Ebola continues to rip through Freetown and the Northern Province leaving in its wake deaths, infections and national despondency. The people want to know why Liberia that was being overrun by Ebola in August has managed to turn things round to the extent they have already lifted emergency regulations and restored civil liberties. These are the questions to which people want answers also.
Yes the burial team in Kenema went too far with their strike over hazard allowances, they may well have distracted themselves and given Pallo Conteh a straw to hold on to as he tries to save himself from drowning by making some political statements. But I am not going to allow that to distract me from the fact that despite all the measures now in force and the money and personnel poured into this country, Ebola is spreading and killing fast. And it's Conteh's job to lead the nation's fight against the killer. I am not sure the people would accept any explanation if we went into the new year with the kind of figures we are seeing now.
© Politico 11/12/14
