A group of instructors under the name, “Ad Hoc Committee of Concerned Faculty of the University of Liberia” says its attention has been drawn to a report in the March 4, 2024 edition of the Daily Observer newspaper, captioned “UL Gets New Board Chair”, in which the paper narrated that on March 1, 2024, the Board of Trustees of the University unanimously elected Grand Kru County Senator, Numene Bartekwa, as the new Chairman.
“We are perplexed and appalled by the decision of the August Board of Trustees of the University of Liberia to elect Senator Bartekwa, who is a statutory member, as Chairman, and we are of the strongest conviction that the action of the Board is not in the best interest of the University,” the faculty said in a press release yesterday, March 11, 2024.
They argued that, with the election of Senator Bartekwa, there is reasonable grounds to believe that the current members of the Board are either oblivious to the reality of the University of Liberia, or they most probably acted under the spell of deception.
“Indeed, it is inarguable that the Board members would have proceeded differently had they been just a bit familiar with the University, as they would have known that the administrative structure of the University of Liberia is a perfect replica of the Weah government, wherein key positions were concentrated in the hands of people from one region of the country, a typical form of sectionalism and bad governance,” the ad hoc committee said.
They claimed that as a result of the flawed decision to elect Senator Bartekwa as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the University has taken the complexion of a regional university, rather than the national university it was meant to be, noting that the University of Liberia currently has the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the president, and Vice president for University Relations, Acting Vice president for Academic Affairs, Vice president for Administration, Vice president for Institutional Development, the Special Assistant to the president, and the Dean of Liberia College, who is also the Doyen of Deans, all coming from the Southeast.
“Firstly, we do not think it is appropriate for the Board of Trustees to be chaired by a government official, but rather, the chairperson should preferably come from the civil society or the private sector. And secondly, it is totally unacceptable for the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the president of the University to come from the same county, in this case, Grand Kru. Indeed, it is axiomatic that as a national university, the structure of the administrative hierarchy of the University of Liberia must reflect its essential character, i.e. it must absolutely conform to the principle of regional balance,” the group said.
They believe that the election of Senator Bartekwa is fundamentally counterproductive to the functionality of the university as the fountain of enlightenment and the citadel of innovation, saying “It is worth noting that Senator Bartekwa has been on the board throughout the tenure of former President George Weah, while Dr. Nelson served as president of the university, and during the period, the university suffered, and is still experiencing substantial decline both in form and content.
They asserted that over the last six years, the University has been suffocated by blatant administrative improprieties, including payroll manipulation, irregular hiring, etc. There have been instances where the president of the university arbitrarily hired lecturers without reference to department chairpersons.
“This is nothing short of cronyism, which brings mediocrity in its train. Every month, the Ministry of Finance returned the university’s payroll because of inconsistency, thus causing the unwarranted delay of salary. And even though the university regularly collects different fees, the administration has failed to adequately supply academic materials to the faculty; every semester, the students have had to protest and disrupt academic activities for the lack of chairs in the classrooms. Notwithstanding these anomalies, everything at the university has always been glamorous and excellent from the perspective of Senator Bartekwa and his colleagues.
They are, however, calling on President Boakai to urgently intervene with the following mitigating measures, including reconstituting the Board of Trustees of the University of Liberia and directly appointing its chairperson, as well as commissioning a comprehensive audit of the university, covering HR and finance.
“Over the years, the university has been a fishing ground where unscrupulous people siphoned resources meant for the development of the institution, with absolute impunity, at the detriment of the faculty and students; convene a stakeholder meeting to, amongst other things, review the charter of the university and align it with contemporary national realities. Sometimes ago, the charter was amended and the number of vice president positions raised from three to eleven. We believe this was simply motivated by the desire not only to accommodate cronies, but also to reward them with high salaries and benefits,” the release said.
