Todays Futon

The recent publication of the highly damning report by the Department of Intelligence, Investigations and Prosecutions of the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), into the procurement of dilapidated and non seaworthy ferries by the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) dated May 10, 2010, represents only a tip of the iceberg into how the management of the NASSIT and its board of directors and ministry of Labor, have and continue to collude in an unholy alliance to systematically plunder the resources of such a laudable institution. The activities and glaring failure of due diligence by DAMEN Shipyards in the purchase of these ferries also calls for additional investigations of their role in the fleecing of poor Sierra Leone workers hard earned contributions in the pension funds.The ministry of Labor, which b employment laws uk ears ultimate oversight responsibility over both the management and board activities of the nation’s sole workers pension trust fund, has largely performed a very poor oversight of the NASSIT as evidenced by its participation in the decision and purchase of these overinflated cost ferries. The inclusion of the responsible Minister in the NASSIT delegation that traveled to the DAMEN Shipyard offices in the Netherlands, to inspect and purchase the vessels in June 2008, represented a naked attempt by the Trust’s management to ingratiate and incorporate a ministry, that largely lacks the requisite technical and professional expertise in the fields of actuarial risk management, pensions, acquisition of ferries and social insurance to effectively contribute to the weighty issues the Trust confronts in its investment strategies.