ONLY A FEW weeks into the Joseph N. Boakai administration, the Vanguard Student Unification Party (SUP), University of Liberia (UL), has given the President an early sign of political ruggedness ahead: SUP has warned President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to pass into legislation the Free Tuition Policy or get ready to sit his first public exam.
SPEAKING DURING A press conference on Monday, February 19, 2024, SUP Chairman, Hagginson Kwein W. Kwein, said education is a fundamental right that should be non-negotiable and accessible to all, regardless of socioeconomic status. He said the implementation of a free tuition policy will not only alleviate the financial burden on students and their families, but will also promote equal opportunities for academic advancement and national development.
ACCORDING TO HIM, those who might argue that the Free tuition at the University of Liberia is a burden on the government should be reminded of the allocation of the national budget and daily spending of key public officials, including “Mr. Boakai”.
SUP’S STRONG RESPONSE to the Boakai administration comes at the time when the administration of the University of Liberia (UL) has announced that it will begin paying its part-time instructors this week, after successfully resolving outstanding issues, including funding, to begin the new semester.
THE PAYMENT OF part-time instructors was a key condition that prevented the resumption of normal academic activities. Therefore, the resumption of classes, which was scheduled for Monday, February 19, 2024, has been postponed until all payment of arrears is adequately addressed. A new date for the resumption of classes will be announced later this week.
OBSERVERS OF THE situation at the University of Liberia (UL) had thought that this turn of event, the payment of UL’s part-time staff, would have ease tension at the University of Liberia, but from the perspective of SUP it appears to be the other way around.
CHAIRMAN KWEIN FURTHER disclosed that SUP has been alarmed over what it calls a detection of early contradictions under the Boakai-Koung administration, specifically the president’s “deliberate refusal” to declare his assets before taking office. Chairman Kwein said President Boakai is mandated by Part 10.1 of the National Code of Conduct of the Republic of Liberia to publish his asset.
“THEREFORE, SUP SEES the asset declaration by Boakai, nearly 17 days after his inauguration without publishing it as nothing, but the same business as usual which Boakai has since promised not to be,” Chairman Kwein noted. Kwein has vowed to ensure that SUP takes unspecified actions if President Boakai refuses to publish his asset, including compelling him to take a public test at the University of Liberia campus on asset declaration. SUP described President Boakai’s asset declaration without publication as a mere bluff and a publicity stunt intended to blindfold the public in what appears to be “business as usual”.