The government-run Liberia News Agency (LINA) has reported that based on the direct instructions of President. George Weah, who is the Visitor of the state-owned University of Liberia (UL), the Government of Liberia (GoL) represented by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) and the Civil Service Agency (CSA) over the past two weeks has been engaged with the UL Faculty Association (ULFA) and the Administration of the University.
Following the end of this intense engagement, LINA reports that the GoL through the MFDP and CSA on Friday, October 1, 2021, signed a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the ULFA and the Administration of UL at the Ministerial Complex in Congo Town.
The MoU will address perennial problems that have plagued the UL; problems which predate the administration of President Weah but continue to be faced by employees and students of the state-run university, leading to the current strike action by members of the university’s faculty, leading to the suspension of classes at the institution.
The signing of the MoU will end the strike action of the UL’s Faculty Association and ensure the resumption of classes on the campuses of the University, beginning Friday, October 8, 2021.
The MoU will, among others, specifically target resolving the problems or demands of the UL’s Faculty Association including the resolution of salary disparities through standardization and gradual increment of salaries for members of the University Faculty; restoration of non-cash incentives, including data, laptops, gas slip for members of the faculty as means for improving academic activities at the University; immediate payment of outstanding arrears for part-timers, and revision and improvement of contract conditions and terms for part-timers.
Others are: resolution and regularization of Social Security deductions and remittance to NASSCORP for employees of the University, including members of the ULFA; resolution and improvement of the medical and health insurance benefit for employees of the university, including members of the ULFA; the immediate improvement in academic activities at the University through additional and targeted budgetary allocation from the Government of Liberia for the provision of more stationery, white boards and white board markers, books, computers, internet, office spaces for professors.
The rest are: the immediate improvement in the physical infrastructures of the University’s campuses, including Capitol Hill and Fendell – improvement activities will include refurbishment of latrines, provision of chairs for students, pavements, renovation of dilapidated buildings, construction of new buildings, painting and beautification of the University’s facilities, among others. Meanwhile, the Government of Liberia has reassured the student community of the UL that the Visitor of the University of Liberia, President Weah, is committed to improving the learning environment as manifested in his government’s tuition-free policy and digitalization of the enrollment and learning facilities at the state-run university
