Africa-Press – Liberia. The Division of Labor Standards of the Ministry of Labor has found SOS Children’s Villages Liberia liable for “wrongful dismissal and unfair labor practices” in a complaint filed against them by their former National Director, Mr. Augustine Allieu. The ministry’s ruling comes almost two years after the complaint was filed. Liberian labor law requires that the investigation in labor complaints start from the Ministry.
The Ministry’s ruling adjudged SOS Children’s Villages Liberia liable and ordered them to unconditionally re-instate Mr. Allieu and pay his lost wages, including salary and all other benefits contained in his employment contract for the twenty-six (26) months since he was wrongfully dismissed and for which period he has since been out of a job. The ruling also states that where SOS management can show that their former National Director cannot be reinstated, they are ordered to pay for his lost time (26 months) of past salaries in addition to all other benefits in his contract, plus 24 months of his salary as compensation before the employment relationship can be severed.
Labor complaints filed with the ministry are investigated in depth where the parties are represented by their respective lawyers, various pieces of evidence are proffered and witness testimonies are entertained at every stage of the hearing. Proceedings in labor claims at the ministry are quasi-judicial and rulings are appealed to the National Labor Court of Liberia.
In its termination letter to Mr. Allieu dated April 12, 2022, SOS Children’s Villages Liberia claimed the former National Director was dismissed for several administrative reasons.
The investigation found merits in Mr. Augustine Allieu’s complaint that his dismissal was illegal and unjustified, and from both witness testimonies and documentary evidence, SOS Liberia could not prove its case. The ministry found that SOS Liberia had failed to implement a fair internal investigation as required by law before their final decision to dismiss was reached. The hearing concluded that what SOS Liberia did was a calculated attempt to frustrate and disgrace their former National Director and that the internal investigation it carried out was merely a formality and the allegations used as the basis to terminate were not material and did not amount to grave misconduct.
In early 2022, Mr. Augustine Allieu found himself facing a rape accusation from a minor child in the care of SOS Liberia. The female adolescent through the SOS interim leadership accused Mr. Augustine Allieu of sexual involvement with her that resulted in her pregnancy. The four-month police investigation that followed established that the rape allegations were false. The DNA test result showed the accused was not the father as the juvenile had claimed his alleged sex with her resulted in the pregnancy. The DNA test done on the child of the minor found Wayne McIntosh, a former staff at SOS Buchanan, to be the father of the minor’s child. Wayne McIntosh was subsequently arrested and charged with statutory rape, kept in prison without trial for over a year and is now released by the court on medical grounds as he goes about his normal life as a free man in Monrovia. The Liberia National Police investigation further found that Mr. Allieu was out of the country on the date that the minor alleged that he raped her at his residence.
Meanwhile, Mr. Augustine Allieu had accused elements within SOS Children’s Villages Regional Office of a regime change plot for SOS Liberia against him and a plan to francophonize SOS West, Central and North Africa (WCNA) region as he was the last English-speaking National Director, which he claimed was done through audit manipulation, framing him up and through fake internal investigation with cooked-up results and use of a minor to plant false rape accusation on him. A surprising coincidence is a member of the internal audit team, Prosper Ndione, from Senegal who investigated Mr. Augustine Allieu ended up as interim National Director and later as his replacement.
The former National Director was suspended and served his dismissal letter while attending to the police investigation into the rape accusation at the LNP. Following police declaration that the rape accusation could only be a lie against him, Mr. Augustine Allieu filed the wrongful dismissal complaint and a defamation lawsuit against SOS Children’s Villages Liberia, Regional and International along with all other accomplices that worked to tarnish his reputation and standing.
Mr. Augustine Allieu is a Sierra Leonean national, expatriate and career development professional in the international development sector in the sub-region, having served in leadership posts at several international NGOs in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Senegal. Before taking the helm at SOS Children’s Villages Liberia in July 2017, he served as Head of Programme Strategy at Plan International, West and Central Africa Region.Before that, he served as Country Director at Plan International Sierra Leone and Country Director at Plan International Liberia in succession. Before that, he served as Head of Monitoring and Evaluation and later, Head of Programs at the Catholic Relief Services Liberia Program. Thereafter, he served as Monitoring and Evaluation Manager and later Program Manager and Plan International, Sierra Leone. During these years, he has made a name for himself for his contribution to community, national and international development, as well as his selfless service to supporting the growth, development and wellbeing of vulnerable populations, including children, women and youth.
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