Capitol Hill, Monrovia – The House of Representatives has passed a bill seeking to create a special education scheme to support deserving students attending public tertiary institutions across Liberia.
The House took the decision on Thursday following recommendations from its joint Committee on Education, Public Administration, and Ways Means and Finance and Development Planning contained in its report read in plenary.
The decision to accept all of the committee’s recommendations to pass the bill was prompted by a motion filed by Rep. Mathew Zarzar (District #3, Sinoe County) who moved that the second reading of the report should constitutes its third and final reading and that the recommendations should be endorsed in its entirety, and the bill should be passed. With the result at 13 in favor, nine against and three abstentions, Rep. Edward W. Karfia (District #5, Bong County), filed a motion, challenging the previous decision to pass the vote.
Acrimonious Debate, Controversial Passage
Rep. Karfia, in his motion for reconsideration, called for the Joint Committee’s report to be placed on the floor for discussion so that several important issues that were ambiguous or left out could be addressed. In the vote called by Speaker Bhofal Chambers, several lawmakers raised their hands in support of Rep. Karfia’s motion but the House statistician said he did not record the number because he was confused from the noise created by the debate on the floor.
Those lawmakers who raised their hands in support of Rep. Karfia’s motion to overturn the previous vote include Reps. Rustonlyn Sucacoco Dennis (District #4, Montserrado County), Ceebee C.D. Barshell (District #3, Mont. Co), Yekeh Kolubah (Dist#10, Mont. County), Hanson Kiazolu (Dist. #17, Mont. Co), Thomas Goshua (Dist. #5, Grand Bassa County) and Marvin Cole (Dist. #3, Bong County).
Others include Reps. Moima Briggs-Mensah (District #6, Bong County), Joseph Papa Kolleh (Dist#7, Bong County), Francis S. Nyumalin (District #1, Lofa County), Julie Fartoma Wiah (Dist. #2, Lofa Co.), Clarence Massaquoi (District #3, Lofa County), Larry Younquoi (District #8, Nimba County), Ellen Atto-Wureh (Dist. #3, Margibi County), Ben Fofana (Dist. #4, Margibi County).
Speaker Chambers called for another vote to be taken, this time he did not call for the vote to be taken either in favor or against Rep. Karfia’s motion, rather he asked Plenary to again vote in favor or against the Joint Committee’s recommendations to pass the bill, thus angering lawmakers supporting Karfia’s motion for reconsideration. The lawmakers challenged the results and vowed to take redress to the Supreme Court.
Background of the Bill
The bill was previously submitted by Rep. Thomas Fallah (CDC, District #5, Montserrado County) in January 2021 calling for a blanket waiver of tuition fees for all students attaining undergraduate studies at public universities and colleges across Liberia.
The bill, which was also aiming to pass into law the payment of WASSCE fees for all 9th and 12th graders attending both private and public schools across Liberia was introduced by Rep. Thomas P. Fallah (CDC, District #5, Montserrado County).
The Bill was titled “An Act to Create a Special Education Fund to Support and Sustain the Tuition Free Scheme for the University of Liberia, All Public Universities and Colleges’ Program and the Free WASSCE fess for Ninth and Twelfth Graders in Liberia, or the Weah Education Fund (WEF) for short.
Joint Committee’s Recommendations
However, the Joint Committee, in its recommendations, called for the title of the bill to be changed to the National Education Equity and Enhancement Fund (NEEEF for short). Contrary to the blanket waiver, the Committee recommended that any student staying longer than one year after the average duration of the course of studies to be dropped from the program, in keeping with the residency clauses enshrined in the handbook of the institution. But the student may enroll at other public universities and colleges at the discretion of the administration.
The Committee recommended that any student on academic probation with GPA of less than 2.00 shall be dropped from the program.
On the funding of the program, the Committee in Part V, Section 2 of the bill said revenues collected to support the program shall be kept in a special account. It called for NEEEF to be funded from revenues generated from Maritime programs with a clearly defined percentage of gross revenue generated by the Liberia Maritime Program, surcharge on tobacco products and alcoholic beverages and should be a clearly defined percentage of existing surcharges of the products indicated.
Sustained Consultations
Before the passage of the bill, the Committee mentioned in its report Plenary that it held consultations with several stakeholders of the education sector including the University of Liberia and several community colleges, Ministry of Education and the National Commission on Higher Education and they all backed the ideal but proffered some recommendations.
The Committee said while majority of the public universities and colleges pledged their support to the proposed act, they expressed concerns in the high enrollment with no increase in budgetary support to accommodate the rise in student enrollment since the President made the pronouncement. The Universities and colleges, the Committee said, complained that payment of students has not been regular and that is posing a ‘serious’ problem to operate the schools.
The Committee noted that the Ministry of Education advised that the policy, when enacted should be considered a scholarship to benefit those who are performing within certain Grade Point Average, and should consider an average number of years to obtain a college degree in specific disciplines. The Committee quotes the Ministry as saying that these measures will create the framework in which the program will be effective and not abused.