UL Faculty And Sen. Saah Joseph Condemn Lawmakers Acarious Gray And Yekeh Kolubah, ULFA Calls For Action To Be Taken Against Perpetrators
PHOTO: Images from Monday’s violence on the UL Capitol Hill campus
By Our Staff Writer
Once again, the campus of the state-owned University of Liberia (UL) has turned into a theater of violence, with stone throwing and rioting.
It happened after Montserrado County District #8 Representative, Moses Acarous Gray carried out his vow to go on the campus and have lunch on Monday, March 13, 2023 in the aftermath of a violent attack on an official in the office of the Finance Minister, Alloysius Howe last week. Coming along with him was scores of his supporters, something that annoyed students from the Students Unification Party (SUP).
In the wake of the violence, Liberia National Police had to move in to bring the situation under control firing teargas. Another lawmaker from the opposition CPP, Montserrado County District #10 Representative Yekeh Kolubah also move over to the UL campus saying he had gone to hand over the UL students campus to them,
Monterrado County Senator, Saah Joseph later condemned the actions of both Lawmakers and the UL students. In an interview with state radio, ELBC, Sen. Joseph from the ruling CDC said the violence on the UL campus was unacceptable.
Police Spokesman Moses Carter later said that six persons were arrested and taken into police custody in connection to Monday’s violence.
Later, the University of Liberia Faculty Association (ULFA) issued the press release below:
March 14, 2023
PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!
Fellow members of the University of Liberia Faculty Association (ULFA), Students and Visitors, the Media and peace loving Liberians. Few days ago, precisely on March 8, 2023, the leadership of ULFA issued a statement condemning the wave of repeated violence on the campuses of the University of Liberia (UL) by rampaging students and urged the UL Administration to take seize of the matter and ensure that the UL campuses remain a place of quality learning. In the same vein, we urged students of the UL to conduct themselves as students and live up to the requirements of decent students.
While efforts were being made to remedy the situation and restore calm and order on the campuses of the UL, social media went buzzed with many persons posting of their visit to the campuses of the UL to dine at the Students Center – a restaurant on the campuses of the UL. The greater of these posts was one made by Hon. Acarous Moses Gray, Representative of District #8, Montserrado County, calling on supporters to join him to have lunch on the Capitol Hill campus on Monday, March 13, 2023 at 12:30 within the premises of the Students Center.
Despite several interventions and calls made by many persons including the UL Administration for the action of Hon. Gray to be abolished and help to restore order, the lawmaker insisted on ensuring that his plans were not altered and continuously reminded his supporters of their presence on the Capitol Hill campus.
As a consequence of Representative Gray’s insistence, the UL Capitol Hill campus became a place of so much tension that disrupted normal learning activities and caused injuries to several persons as well as damage and loss of personal belongings of peaceful persons on the UL campus.
The leadership of ULFA categorically condemns the action of Representative Gray and cohorts and sees this action as a deliberate assault on academia and the smooth teaching and learning at the UL.
As a former member of the Board of Trustees of the UL, we expected Representative Gray to use his experience and knowledge of the UL to ensure peace and stable learning environment as well as helping the UL Administration live up to the required expectations guided by the UL Charter.
ULFA also condemns the action of Hon. Yekeh Kolubah, Representative of District #10, Montserrado County for his actions to fuel further the already escalated tension on the Capitol Hill Campus.
ULFA would like to remind the honorable lawmakers that the campuses of the UL are not battlegrounds for opposing political actors for show of supremacy. We see the actions of today as a worrying pathway that would endanger the right to peaceful acquisition of knowledge at the nation’s highest institution of learning.
The leadership of ULFA therefore calls for the set-up of an independent and impartial investigation into the situations of violence on the campuses of the UL and that this process should bring all perpetrators to account for their actions.
Finally, ULFA assures all faculties that we will do all it takes to ensure the safety of everyone and we’re committed to take appropriate actions that would guarantee the safety of every person on all campuses of the UL.