By Alfred Kollie
The former Comptroller General at the Finance Ministry, Hanson Kiazolu has hit back at recent comments made by Education Minister George Werner that intellectual debate among presidential candidates and academic credentials were not important.
Before the October 10, 2017 elections, Minister Werner used his Facebook page extensively to tell Liberians and the world his understanding of Education when he said acquiring education was “Tabata,” meaning nonsense in the Kru dialect.
Kiazolu, who is now Representative elect for Montserrado County District # 17, said Minister Werner does not deserve his post after making such dishonorable outburst as head of the country’s education system.
The former Comptroller took the Education Ministry boss to task, in a keynote address to students of the African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU) 18th graduating class in Monrovia on Monday.
He said such assertion by Minister Werner compromised the dignity of any state who wants to compete with other nations, describing it as “disgraceful outburst.”
Kiazolu lamented why a senior official of government entrusted with the transformation of the country’s educational sector which enlightens any society.
Representative elect intimated that Minister Werner’s “flippant pronouncement” and meaning of education is narrow and a dooms day conspiracy for a country like Liberia striving to rebuild its educational sector.
“But I can assure you that their conspiracy will fail, because a day light of reform and renewal is coming that they will not use our state resources to educate their children abroad,” the former Comptroller General noted.
He wants students and other Liberians to vehemently reject such interpretation from Minister Werner who he believes should not even have the opportunity to sit around any government institution.
The Minister’s social media posts even drew the attention of the chief executive, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who warned him to desist from such comments.
Meanwhile, Representative elect Kiazolu has challenged the AMEU students to sustain the trust and confidence reposed in them by their fellow students and school authority.
He told the students that as Liberia is now witnessing national transformation and political transition, sustaining trust and confidence cannot be over emphasized, especially for leaders of the new.
Trust and confidence will ensure a realization of shared aspiration of the country that offers equal opportunities for growth in all institutions, he said.
According to him, a crucial endeavor in achieving such goal is to re-establish integrity and accountability among student leaders and school authority.
Kiazolu called on the students to embrace commitment and uphold the highest ethical standards and practices in their collective effort, stressing they are essential for sustainable trust, vibrant and quality education.
He urged the students to be guided by the ideals of honor and excellence, as they foster the enterprise of integrity and quality in school system, nothing their objectives must transform their education and aspiration into tangibles.
According to the Representative elect, the new day will be sustained as we collectively tread a new straight and rigorous path toward Liberia that will abundant the path of academic and social disequilibrium.
This will move Liberia and the educational sector towards a more equitable progressive nation, where the youth will see education as strength of every nation and their personal life, Kiazolu said.