CU Administration’s Reaction to Emmanuel N.B. Flomo’s “10 Reasons Why Dr. Tokpa Should Leave Cuttington…” By: Joshua D.B. Giddings—0886552536; joshgiddings50@gmail Vice President for Public Relations Introduction One Emmanuel N.B. Flomo wrote, in the August 8, 2013 issue of the FrontPage Africa Newspaper a malicious article, titled: “10 Reasons for Dr. Tokpa to leave Cuttington University.” First of all it is good to know who Emmanuel Flomo truly is. Emmanuel Flomo did not only briefly serve as former Vice President of the Cuttington University Student Union in the academic year 2010/2011 (he hurriedly resigned when he realized that he too would be impeached for corruption and breach of the Student Council Government’s Constitution, perpetrated by the student council government of which he was a part), but he is also the son of Mr. Mogana Flomo, Sr., a former Lecturer and Chairman of the Management Department in the College of Business and Public Administration, whose contract with Cuttington ended in June 2013. Mr. Mogana Flomo, Sr. served briefly (one semester) as Acting Dean of the Business College and after being replaced as Acting Dean, he went on a local radio station in Gbarnga (Radio Gbarnga) and alleged that the Cuttington Administration was discriminating against him because of his physical disability and for political reasons, since his son, Augustus Flomo, a one-time finance employee of Cuttington University, was interested in the senatorial race of Bong County. It is no surprise that his son, Emmanuel Flomo, who graduated two years ago, has come out with another calculated plan to lash out at the head of the Cuttington Administration, Dr. Tokpa. The allegations leveled against Dr. Tokpa are nothing but politically motivated ploys intended to weaken his chances of running for the senatorial seat of Bong County if he chooses to. In his attempt to do so, Emmanuel has not shown any remorse of conscience whether the hard earned reputation of Cuttington University as a premiere university, his alma mater, is besmeared or not. Concerns Raised Contrary to Emmanuel Flomo’s view about Cuttington University that the university is going downhill because of the incumbent President’s desire to run for the senatorial seat of Bong County, the university is still the trail blazer among universities in Liberia. Since he became President of the university in 2002, Dr. Tokpa, seen as a visionary by many, has rebuilt the university, bringing it up, through the help of USAID and other donor agencies, from the ashes and ruins caused by the civil war to where it is now. The university became a full-fledged university in 2005, operating three campuses - a graduate school in Monrovia which offers master’s degree level courses in Education, Business and Public Administration, Nursing, Public Health and Theology; a Junior College, established in 2006 in Kakata, Margibi County, which offers Associate of Arts degrees in various disciplines and the undergraduate program at the Suakoko Campus, which offers bachelor’s degrees in seven colleges - Education, Business and Public Administration, Natural Sciences, Nursing, Agriculture, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, and Theology. In addition, a number of institutes have been established to cater to the needs of post-conflict Liberia. There is the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, established in 2006 which now offers a bachelor degree in Peace Studies, and there is a Service Learning Department offering certificates to desiring students. This program encourages students to get involved in outreach programs in their community. There is now an Institute for Excellence in Teaching and Learning whose purpose is to encourage professional development among faculty for effectiveness in their performance, as well as to provide services to students which promote academic success. There is a newly established School of Entrepreneurship for the purpose of teaching and encouraging people to own their own businesses. There is the newly constructed College of Allied Health Sciences intended to offer, in addition to bachelor degree in Nursing, Certificate courses in Midwifery, Physician Assistant, Radiology, etc. Presently there are three female staff members doing their masters in health at Northampton University in the United Kingdom with plans to return to work with this college. In addition to all these major developments, Cuttington University Administration is in collaboration with the USAID supported program called Excellence in Higher Education for Liberian Development (EHELD) to transform the College of Agriculture and Sustainable Development (CASD) into a center of excellence in agricultural education in Liberia. Well qualified professors from the United States and Nigeria have been hired by the EHELD Project to fill in the gap while eight Liberian faculty members from the college are undergoing further studies to return to bolster the number of qualified faculty in that college. All of these major developments under Dr. Tokpa cannot be simply written off easily or placed under the carpet because someone like Emmanuel Flomo, with a political agenda has deliberately ignored them for his own selfish political motives. Furthermore, Dr. Tokpa is supervised by a competent Board of Trustees comprising honorable men and women to whom he reports annually. Had he been found culpable of any wrong doing, the Board would not have granted him a second five-year term to serve as President of Cuttington University. The allegation that Dr. Tokpa has turned Cuttington University into a political party is false and misleading. Many of the Administrative and Teaching staff members are non-partisans or people of different political orientations. In fact three of the College Deans are foreign nationals, two from Sierra Leone and one from Nigeria. No instructor or staff is marginalized or dismissed from Cuttington University because of his or her political view. People who leave Cuttington University do so at will by resigning or are dismissed if their work ethics seems incompatible with those of the institution. Cuttington University is located 120 miles outside of the Capital City of Monrovia and to travel to and from Monrovia to do the school’s work requires vehicles that are suitable for the road condition. It is a known fact that because of the bad road condition (the road has not been paved since 50 years ago) the 120 miles trip takes up to three hours or so. Those suitable vehicles, for this road condition, bought by Cuttington University for its administrative staff, are used vehicles with costs ranging from US$7,000.00 to US$15.000.00 at most and not the US$40,000.00 to US$ 130, 000. 00 claimed by Mr. Emmanuel Flomo. The claim that the Cuttington University Administration has made no effort since 2005 to improve the internet Café for students’ use to make research is also false and misleading. Although there have been some challenges in the provision of internet on campus, in 2012/2013, the administration was able to expand its domain to contain additional two servers that will be used for additional File Application and Secondary Domain Controlling. In addition, it purchased eGranary Servers which will provide educational resources to the students and faculty and point-to-point radios for the broadcasting of signals from the main campus through WI-FI hot spots to strategic areas on campus. Right now students are able to access the internet and educational resources via WI-FI. Currently an additional 130 computers have been purchased and 74 were installed in the various colleges’ labs. The computer lab of the College of Agriculture is already a state-of-the-art computer facility (thanks to the USAID/EHELD Program). To claim that Cuttington University Administration collects student activities fees from students and does not use same for students’ activities is also false and misleading. Activities fees collected from students are used for the intended purpose as there is a student union government called Cuttington University Student Union (CUSU) through which such funds are channeled for the use of students. For instance, the 2012/2013 student union government led by Mr. David Fehkpolo and the Administration had a very cordial relationship which was beneficial to both students and the institution. Several games were played; inter- university games, debates and competitions took place with Cuttington coming out either second place or first place. For instance, Cuttington University Science Students traveled to Monrovia to compete in a Science competition in which Cuttington University students won first place for their lab demonstration of Aspirin production (Cutting Edge Newspaper, June 29, 2013). Students’ social clubs such as Nader, Freeman, Mason, are supposed to be organized by students who then seek support from administration; it not administration’s responsibility to form clubs and force students to join them. Cuttington University now has more qualified instructors than ever before, contrary to Mr. Flomo’s claim. The undergraduate program on the Suakoko campus had, for the 2012/2013 academic year, 55 master’s degree holders, five (5) PhD holders and 35 Teaching Assistants with bachelor’s degree (quite a number of whom are candidates for master’s degrees in local universities). Cuttington was also fortunate to have three Peace Corp Volunteers assigned to it. Currently Cuttington has eight (8) faculty members studying for their masters or PhD degrees aboard and in various African Universities who will return shortly to bolster the number of qualified instructors. During the same year, the Administration raised salary across the board for all teaching faculty to serve as an incentive for retention. It is noteworthy to mention that in 2012/2013, Cuttington University won the prestigious 2012 Exam Ethics Marshals Africa Award for Distinguished Services to University Education (thenewdawnliberia/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7221:cuttington-university-wins award&catid=25:politics&Itemid=59). To say that the subsidy received from government has no direct effect on students is ludicrous. Cuttington University does receive subsidy from the national government to assist the purchase of fuel for the running of the generators on its three campuses and food for boarding students. Administration spends, for instance, an average of US$ 21,805.00 monthly for the purchase of petroleum products just to provide 18 hours of electricity daily. In 2012/2013, though the amount of US$ 1.1m (not US$1.2m) was budgeted as subsidy for Cuttington University, it received a little over US$900,000.00 of the amount. According to the Finance Department, the subsidy is usually given on a quarterly basis and the Administration must justify each quarter’s usage to the Ministry of Finance before another quarter’s allotment is given out; the government also sends auditors to audit the institution on subsidy usage. Cuttington relies on students fees for 85% of its operational cost, government provides 13%, and the rest must be raised by the Administration. Comparatively speaking, Cuttington University (among private Liberian universities) is not as expensive as people think. The difference between it and other private universities is that it is a boarding school (and had been the only one for decades until recently). As a boarding school, it must provide food, lodging, safe drinking water, electricity and security, around the clock, for its residents and so it charges US$35.00 per credit hour. However, some other private universities in Monrovia which charge US$25.00 per credit hour do not have to worry about those above-mentioned problems since their students commute daily. The difference in credit hours is only US$10.00 which honestly cannot maintain a boarding student for one semester. Again, Liberia’s Ambassador to Washington D.C, United States of America, Hon. Jeremiah Sulonteh, was never dismissed or asked to resign from his post at Cuttington University (he was the Associate Vice President for Development) for his intention to enter national politics, as Emmanuel claims. He willingly expressed his desire to move on to his area of interest. Conclusion In conclusion, Emmanuel N.B. Flomo’s allegations or reasons given for Dr. Tokpa to leave Cuttington are malicious propaganda intended for ulterior motives. Cuttington University cannot be rightfully identified as a political party simply because its president has an interest in a run for the senatorial race of Bong County. Dr. Tokpa is an individual with his own rights and freedom to own or do whatever he wants to do with his own time. Cuttington University, on the other hand, by its charter, is an educational entity with the duty to educate citizens of this country as well as others. It belongs to the Liberian people and shall always remain so long after Dr. Tokpa is gone from the scene. Cuttington University remains Liberia’s premiere university, an award winning university. It is a pace setter and a trail blazer in Liberian higher education. It is still the citadel of academic excellence in Liberia as it was in the past with its motto: “Sancte et Sapiente” (“Holy and Wise”). It cannot be denied that Dr. Tokpa, its current President, has played a major role in making Cuttington what it is today.
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 11:02:54 +0000
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