Although Parliament of Sierra Leone had approved the 2023 Sierratel Budget which runs into billions of Leones, the institution still remains a major challenge for government’s revenue drive.

Some MPs during the debate raised serious concerns about the existence of the Sierratel Company and how its survival in the next couple of years will be possible.

Both the SLPP and APC MPs have lampooned the poor performance of state institution during the debate last year and called for swift intervention of government to revitalize state institutions including Sierratel.

In the same vein, staffs from Sierratel, who have been working in the company since 1994 and still working, have expressed dismay over the collapse of Sierratel Company.

“This is frustrating for all of us as staffs and workers of Sierratel Company. It seems as if the company is dead beyond repairs,” workers lambasted.

Staff of the company who have been sacked have also expressed dissatisfaction for the failure by government to pay their entitlements running for several years now.

They informed this press that things are relatively harsh for them as the company is not working to address their predicaments.

According to workers, the way things are going today with the company was never the case, since its history and establishment.

Workers of the company have complained about the refusal of government and the institution to pay their salaries for over twelve months now.

Workers disclosed to this medium that the former Minister of Information and Communication, Mohamed Rado Swaray, had held several meetings with some of the staff and workers about their 12 months non-payment of their salaries but all of this proved futile.

“In fact one of our colleagues died few months ago because of the protracted suffering meted on to him by Sierratel Company. The deceased asked a very crucial question at the time, which was “What is happening with Sierratel and the government?”

The late man revealed that whenever the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) government took power the Sierratel’s presence becomes a hoax.

The staff alleged that during the reign of former President Alhaji Tejan Kabba’s second term in office, the staff of the company went without salary for three or four months.

They added that this government seemed to be the worst because since 2019 to 2023 ; there had been no leave allowances, no medical benefits, and no salary for the poor workers of Sierratel.

What is more heart-rending, workers claimed, is that, the Sierratel offices at Tower Hill, Brook-fields, Wellington and some other branches are used as  residences for the company’s workers.

“Some of these vulnerable workers are now used as `residents and they cannot afford a dime to pay house rents. And so that is the reason they harbour themselves at Sierratel offices” one of them cries.

They furthered that there is nothing good about Sierratel at the moment, no tools or equipment to work with, no cables, no pipes and absolutely nothing to write home about in the company.

They narrated that Sierratel was the gateway of all other mobile companies but they are no more the gateway.

“How the government wants us to survive while the only institution to provide gateway for all other mobile companies has collapsed without staff receiving salaries?” he cried.

They stressed that they had protested more than seven times for their salaries but all the peaceful protests were aborted by gunmen of the state.

“During our protests we were chased away by police with weapons,” they said

Workers of the company said that, the police arrested many staff and workers who protested for their salaries for no good reason.

“We don’t know our fate. We are today surviving through magic. We work and we don’t get our salaries. We are not traders or business people who get money daily from our business. We were stuck and can’t get out,” cried a staff from Sierratel.

According to them they leave their homes every blessed day for work and they don’t get paid, adding that they had lost some of their colleagues due to illness because they had no source of income for their medical care or money to pay hospital bills.

Workers explained to African 24 that, the Information Minister, Mohamed Rado Swaray, promised to have solved 99.9% of Sierratel problems, but since then  everything is still the same.

One of the bogus statements of the Minister then, they say, is that government will bring a private company to work with Sierratel to take over as a private company but all that was fruitless.

“We have knocked on all the closed doors and had done all we could but nothing changes at the office,” they said.

Workers of the company appealed to the “TOK N DO” Government of President Bio to come to their aid immediately before people start saying that it is during the reign of the SLPP that Sierratel is closed.

They opined that, Sierratel can’t afford to pay their staff and workers, pointing out the huge demands or operational costs of the company daily. They say Sierratel is owned and controlled by the government and be taken seriously.