Monrovia — Some employees of the James Spriggs Payne Airport are threatening the management of the airport with protests over its refusal to pay their six and half months' salary arrears.

They also accused the management and Mr. Emmanuel Tarplah of doing little to address their concerns and showing no interest in having the arrears settled.

The staff told FPA: "In March 2020 during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the management didn't pay us, and when we asked, they told us that management credited our salary without even informing us. From March to August of that same year we worked and didn't get paid.

"Since then, they are yet to pay our arrears. This situation is not unique to us at James Spriggs Payne, our colleagues in Maryland and Sinoe Counties are experiencing similar constraints and they have threatened to seize any domestic plane that lands on their airstrips."

In response to the employees, Mr. Emmanuel Tarplah who heads the James Spriggs Payne Airport confirmed owing the employees six months' arrears.

Tarplah: "We all know that activities at the airport are slow and not really moving. We don't have any commercial domestic activities going on. We have made all the cases up to the board. Currently, as we speak the airport is faced with a lot of challenges that we are all trying to find solutions to.

"We have spoken to the workers on that issue. There is no way that I will tell the workers to go and get the money from anywhere when it has been recorded on our books as a liability to the company. We are hoping that things will improve we will begin to pay arrears and also keep the payroll current."

He also told FrontPageAfrica that even though the Government of Liberia pays salaries of 90% of the airport employees, there are staff of the entity who are being paid directly by the Airport Management which stands as a challenge for the management to keep those staff salary current.