On Monday, President George M. Weah, on his political district tour campaign in Montserrado County and its environs, told constituents of district #4 that he will reawaken the abandoned cadet program by government, which is intended for junior and senior high students to acquire working experience while in school.
“We were all cadets, so that program need to come back, where every school-child in this country: 9, 10, and 12 graders can have experience,” President Weah, who is seeking a second term, told district #4’s constituents. “When they are coming to college, they can work. This is not a joke,” the President maintained.
A cadet is a person in training for a military, naval commission, and so on, especially a student in a service academy.
Unlike former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s administration which aborted it, the cadet program is a government-designed program set up to employ junior and senior high students nationwide to work, earn minimal salaries and to get experience at various government ministries.
In former President Johnson-Sirleaf’s administration, cadet students protested, destroyed properties and blocked roads with checkpoints, a situation that turned Montserrado County horrible, for delayed salaries.
As a result of the students’ violent postures, the Johnson-Sirleaf-led administration rescinded the program, which still have negative effects on the student community.
But President Weah has a revival message for them. “We will do our best to employ them so they can have experience. It happened in our lives with President Samuel Doe. He empowered us. It gave us working experience.
“We want to reintroduce that cadet job to every child that is going to school. Instead of being behind their ma for US$20 or US$30, they will have their own money. l remember l worked with the Liberia Telecommunication Corporation. At that time, my salary was US$50.00. l learned how to be a switch board technician,” the President said.
He disclosed that, based on his work experience, when he went to Cameroon a phone without a line was given to him, which he repaired and communicated with his family in Liberia before he travelled to Europe.
“l could fix phone and repair lines while l was going to school. l had that little job experience,” the President said.
With the influx of twenty presidential candidates in the 2023 presidential and legislative elections, President Weah is in contenders’ battle. As a result, he has sounded a caveat to the Liberian electorate, especially first-time voters, not to vote for the opposition because they would thwart the good plan he has to implement in his second term for them.