The senior staff and scores of FDA employees have denied involvement in protest actions against the new administration headed by Mr. Rudolph Merab terming the media’s Thursday March 21, 2024 report under the caption: FDA Employees Demand Removal of Merab” as calculated ploy of some misguided individuals.
The employees pointed accusing fingers at certain professors at the UL Forestry Department as being the masterminds of last week protests simply because they were not favored to occupy those positions at the entity.
During the Friday March 21, 2024 general staff meeting head at the whein Town head office, in Bernard Farm, Monrovia, the employees said, “FDA remains calm and peaceful. We see early signs of progress and transformation under Mr. Merab and his team given what the team has begun to do. We believe the vision and determination of the new management team will redeem the entity and raise it to the nobler height as far as government’s ARREST agenda is concerned. With open hands and hearts we welcome the Merab administration in whose hands President Joseph Nyumah Boakia has placed FDA.”
The employees continued, “We believe in the judgment of the President and we have no cause whatsoever to oppose those men and women the president has appointed to serve the Liberian people at the level of the FDA.
According to them FDA needs administrators who understand human needs, who have the sector at heart and who are willing to purge the entity from the point of dormancy to a point where its national and international reputation will be restored.
The employees averred that since Mr. Merab took over few weeks ago he has never dismissed anyone; rather he’s sowing seed of his vision and mission consistent with the ARREST policy and as such they could see a rising rebranded FDA in the soonest possible time and described the media report as fallacy in the highest degree.
Another employee said, “Most, if not all of those who are in the habit of staging protests against Mr. Merab are not within the employ of the FDA, rather they are brainwashed and paid students from the Forestry Department at the University of Liberia, who believe that one has to be a forestor before assuming the position of managing director.
It can be recalled that Mr. Harrison Karnwea and C. Mike Doryen were not forestors yet they respectively headed the entity as managing directors respectively.
“President Joseph Nyumah should and must stand strong and unbending to protect those he has nominated to serve in the interest of the Liberian people,” they emphasized.
Meanwhile, Mr. Merab has reiterated his administration’s undaunted stand to rebrand FDA, redeem it from the state of dehydration or malnourishment to a point where it will be called a walking giant and not a sleeping giant.
He vowed radically changes all levels to reawaken the dead nerves of the entity. Trusting in the abilities of his two principal young deputies for administration and technical services respectively, Victor Kpaiseh and Atty. Gethrude Korvah Nyanlay he vaunted of speedy reformation at the entity.
Meanwhile, s strategic plan that could see FDA radically standing up within the next six months has finalized awaiting implementation.
As announced in the senior staff meeting on Friday a comprehensive payroll audit, head count intended to weed out ghosts, asset verification, credential audits, amongst others are underway.
