In spite of constraints confronting the management of Salpost due to mismanagement, the government has renegotiated the full membership of Salpost during the 24th Universal Postal Union (UPU) congress, which was held in Geneva Switzerland from July 23rd to August 12th this year.
After the renegotiations, Salpost regained full membership, which automatically qualifies Sierra Leone for a co-funded project with the provision of 6 vehicles, 15 computers, 10 motor bikes, 20 bicycles and 2 photo copiers to revive the post office.
Minister of Information and Communications Ibrahim Ben Kargbo said that the past governments have not been paying their yearly subscriptions to the UPU thereby causing the suspension of the membership of Sierra Leone to the international body.
He said in less than a year in power, they have entered into several agreements with the UPU to rejuvenate the membership so as to benefit from all the available opportunities within the union.
Kargbo also confirmed that the seven months backlog salary of Salpost staff would be settled by government.
Mohamed Kanneh, the Acting Managing Director of Salpost, explained that every four years, the whole postal union members around the world meet to review the roles and procedures governing the conduct of international postal services.
Kanneh participated along with the Minister of Information and the Chairman Board of Directors in the last UPU congress.
He said since 1995 to date, they have not paid their subscription as such they were allowed to participate in the congress deliberations in Geneva but were not allowed to vote.
He however confirmed that the Minster of Information and Communications IB Kargbo had renegotiated with the Secretariat of the Union to which they agreed to wave 10 years of payment, and also agreed on an appeal to wave interest on arrears which automatically qualified Salpost for co-funding.
Kanneh confirmed that the Salpost Savings Bank collapsed early last year, but government was working on a refund of deposit to customers and to resuscitate the bank.
By Solomon Rogers
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