My fellow countrymen and women, I bring you greetings from the spirit of great fathers, mothers and sons who are today not present with us physically but lived with us in the eyes of spirituality, as we celebrate the ninth (9th) Birth Anniversary of the Grand Bassa University Student Union (GBUSU).
GBUSU was established in 2008 to unite all Bassa students through a strong leadership. For nine unbroken years, you’ve worked and continue to work toward the attainment of financial aid and the life betterment of us, your members. I am very proud to be a member of GBUSU and I do know the name GBUSU will long last.
However, as we celebrate, let us not forget to commit ourselves to our individual and institutional destinations, knowing that it will not come to us; instead we are under obligations to go for it, so that we can walk through it.
Not only that we must go the future, but that we must also trust or be convinced and obligated to ensuring that others reach the top of their full potential. I have confidence in most of you to ensure our common denominator; GBUSU regains its status which is not an easy task.
I am very much aware that the celebration of our 9th anniversary coincided with a fundraising activity to rescue hundreds of our brothers and sisters enlisted from ten (10) universities and colleges namely, University of Liberia, Cuttington University, AME Z University, AME University, United Methodist University, Stella Maris Polytechnic, Smyth Institute of Management and Technology, Adventist University of West Africa, St. Clement College, and Monrovia Bible College who are troubled with arrears burden of over US$75,000 which was incurved due to lack of sincerity on the part of our county authorities to meet up with their indebtedness.
They wrote several commitment letters but today reneged on payment; thus leaving you with the physiological effect that has rendered most of you university/college dropped out, despite being knowledgeable that many of you, parents are not economically empowered to provide you the requisite quality tertiary education.
Most of our parents in present day Liberia, that Grand Bassa is no exception, are those who are making farms; selling charcoal, cold water, fufu, coconut, and palm wine; as well as, other unprofitable businesses just to meet daily meal requirements.
This is total wickedness at the highest level on the part of the current leadership of the Grand Bassa County inclusive of the County Administration and the Legislative Caucus and this act I must equate to a form of modern slavery which must be abolished through a united force.
But you cannot achieve this abolishment without putting in place innovative approaches given that those at the hand of power have placed politics above development, especially education which has many benefits to the individuals involved and to society at large – the health effects of education can be large and the education of women can significantly reduce child mortality rates.
Indeed Innovation will be the best tool to help GBUSU moves forward.
Now as member of the GBUSU Veteran Community, I hope my colleagues will see GBUSU sustainable survivability from a different approach, something very far from GBUSU inviting us to programs. Something I also see very far from us just putting five or ten dollars together in the name of fundraising to a more substantial engagement, development and implementation of an enhanced fundraising strategy.
Let me suggest this, we need to serve as the backbones of GBUSU. To achieve this, we need to organize a conference to understand deeper the root causes of GBUSU problem, and draft a resource mobilization strategy, and engagement plan with a call to end GBUSU reliance only on the Grand Bassa County authorities, though it’s part of our rights!
The Grand Bassa County Authorities may think they have helped supported us for too long, so all they are now saying is, they are tired with us, demonstrated in their huge lack of interest and less attention pay to GBUSU nowadays. In their wisdom, GBUSU is not the common denominator of BASSA students, be it graduate or none graduate.
They have no thought to develop GBUSU, no mindset of making GBUSU the best among county student movements thereby have decisively decided to kill GBUSU.
A reality is while you are crying to get back in universities and colleges, hundreds of Bassa students, Grand Bassa County Superintendent Levi Demmah under his administration provided over US$300,000 to a politically motivated newly established educational foundation suggested by the Grand Bassa Legislative Caucus.
Regrettably, though you need about US$75,000 to address the students’ challenges, the Grand Bassa Educational Foundation was provided over US$100,000 for administrative expense as a giveaway for doing nothing; while hundreds of Bassa students are out of school presently.
When quizzed in the media, Senator Nyonblee K. Lawrence, Chair of the Grand Bassa Legislative Caucus could not justify their collective action against the students, but favors the educational foundation over GBUSU because the GBUSU leadership in her words “has for time in memorial not submitted report to the caucus on its operationalization,” even though it is evident that GBUSU’s role has been to coordinate, manage, seek support and advocate for students; while the Grand Bassa County Administration makes direct disbursement/deposit to the various universities and colleges.
In addition, GBUSU every December delivered annual report to the County Administration on the number of in-school students and dropout.
Despite the current situation, the GBUSU leadership thought to allow sleeping dogs lie; thus trying to build a stronger relationship with the county leadership, an effort which has been deceptively welcomed by the authorities.
A glaring realism is this 2017th Anniversary. It tells it all.
Upon invitation of the GBUSU leadership, Grand Bassa County Superintendent Levi Demmah attended the anniversary and a pledged LD$60,000 (US$500) on behalf of he, his family and the County Administration, in spite of hopelessness visibly saw on faces of the conglomerated students. The fundraising was intended to raise about US$75,000 to address the arrears burden which the county has ignored.
Adding a salt to GBUSU’s wounds, Superintendent Demmah went on to vowed that as long he remains superintendent of Grand Bassa County, the politically motivated Education Foundation will remain operational and fully supported; while GBUSU will get only the scums from pockets of the administration. So to say!
That was a dash hope for executives of GBUSU who have thought it wise that the presence of Superintendent Demmah at the Anniversary Fundraising rally would have brought about a relief.
In addition, it was a big disappointment to the 100s of Bassa students who have a great deal of obligation and have pledged to contribute to the development of their motherland, Bassa and Liberia, given that they may not have the opportunity in the next 3-5 years of achieving their desired educational goals, due to arrears owned by Grand Bassa County authority.
For me, it is a serious disappointment that people who tasted suffering in earning education will want others suffer more but don’t desired for their children to undergo such difficulty.
What is more unfortunate is when these very people today at the hand of power, benefited several form of scholarships at the expense of our county and country, while others embezzled our County and nation’s resources to get themselves and their children educated, yet they tend to step on you.
This is just an unfortunate life story brothers and sisters. They will not give you education realizing the elementary definition of education has been and continues to remain, “World Equalizer”. They will neither want you equate yourself to them nor their children.
This is an opened secret that you must be remained of; their children are abroad studying while you are here being pulled around for financial aid not even a full scholarship, though most of you are today’s scholars. They denied you of money they give to their children abroad as recess.
A path to embrace or ignore
Friends and brothers, my fellow countrymen and women, it’s time to unite more than ever. It’s time to have a different idea of moving GBUSU forward. You have to respond to oppressive leadership and suppression in any forms. Yes!
You need to. Don’t sit there but do something positive to redeem GBUSU. Our responses for academic social justice and freedom need to be strategic, while speaking against these without fear or favor.
You have the power to move to another level. But, I tell you this that, you have to use the empirical approach and be convinced that you can change the world around you through the application innovations.
As the veterans are planning positively, you prepare also in developing new ideas to move GBUSU forward and not doing business as usual. You will get nothing from these guys, (Our County Authorities) for now. I told you this doing our 2016 Annual Convention and I must tell you this again.
Do an evaluation of the organization (GBUSU) to determine your strength and weaknesses. You can better your weaknesses, yes you can! Network with others, including individuals and institutions to achieve your desired goals, look many places for opportunities, there they await you.
Think beyond your reach. Don’t be told that the political motivated education foundation is a plan to kill GBUSU given the realities already pointed out; as such, we must stand tall… These are my unique words of caution to you as we commemorate the 9th Anniversary of GBUSU, the common denominator of Bassa students.
Bravo to you all as we celebrate many more years of establishment.
May God bless GBUSU, May God bless Grand BASSA County and the Republic of Liberia, as a whole, that those that say we will never prosperous will be put to shame and condemned!
Long live GBUSU; long live the like minds of Grand Bassa County.
Y. Solomon W. Watkins, graduate of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion University (AMEZU) with Bachelor of Public Administration (BPA) degree; President emeritus, Grand Bassa University Student Union A.M.E. Zion Chapter, 2016; former Chairman of All Chapter President Committee GBUSU, 2016; and former Chairman Grievance, Ethnics and Adult Committee, 2014-2015