By B. Linus Flomo
(freelance)
Some expected graduates of the 19th Graduating Class of the United Methodist University on Wednesday, January 20, 2024, booed their class president for what they called provision of incomplete souvenir items for graduation.
Speaking to Inside MACSA-UMU, the group of graduating seniors said that some items the president promised to produce for those who made early payment, including a back bag, jacket, lappa, note pad, etc., were missing from the package, and to their utmost surprise, two key souvenir items, the bag and jacket, were in short supply, thus making the students angry as they began jeering at the senior class president, Fata Donzo-Sirleaf.
Most of the students who spoke to this paper on the main campus of the United Methodist University on Ashmun Street in Monrovia, expressed disappointment over the deliberate attempt by the student leadership to deny them of their souvenir items. The students, most of whom were females, narrated how tedious it was to raise US$150 in a tough economy like Liberia.
Meanwhile, sources close to the president told this paper that the vendor was the one who led the class leadership into problem with the students. One member of student’s leadership, who asked for anonymity, indicated that over 70 percent of the total cost of the items was sent in advance to the vendor, in an attempt to avoid the eleventh-hour rush. The vendor (Elchico Faunde), who was later added to the Telegram chatroom of the 19th Graduating Class admitted that his entity betrayed the leadership for the fact that the rightful consignment was not packaged, but promised to do the needful so as to avoid conflict on the campus, as he claimed to be an alumnus of the institution.
In an attempt to calm the students, opposition student leader, Melekeh W. Gbuapaye, wrote in the class’s Telegram chatroom, appealing to the consciences of the students and asked them to be calm as he believed in the integrity of the student leadership.
“The pain is real, your frustration is genuine, and you are angry for a just cause, but again, these things happen; they are sorry for what happened and will learn from their mistakes,” Gbuapaye wrote. Student Farneh Kessely described the incomplete souvenir package as unacceptable and deeply sickening for the graduating class’s leadership’s deliberate attempt to falsely represent the student’s interest. In another reaction, a graduating senior, Ballah Y. Johnson, called Fata Donzo-Sirleaf a bad leader who engages in fake promises.
However, in a brief chat with students, Madam Sirleaf intimated that those students who have not received the complete souvenir items should exercise restraint as the leadership was doing everything possible to address the situation. She appealed to the graduating seniors to be calm as they will receive their remaining items following the graduation program, which is slated for January 30, 2024, in Domah Town, Margibi County, Liberia.
