MONROVIA — The University of Liberia Faculty and Staff Association (ULFASA) has overwhelmingly reaffirmed its decision to maintain its ongoing disengagement from all academic and administrative duties, declaring that verbal assurances from the government will no longer suffice to resolve its longstanding grievances.
By Christopher C. Walker | [email protected]
The decision was finalized Friday during a well-attended emergency General Assembly at the university’s Fendell Campus, where more than 90 percent of ULFASA membership voted to sustain the go-slow action.
The association insists that faculty and staff will not return to the classrooms until a legally binding, tripartite written agreement complete with a strict implementation timetable is signed among ULFASA, the UL Administration, and the Government of Liberia.
“ULFASA remains firm,” the leadership stated following the vote, emphasizing that months of unfulfilled promises must now give way to concrete commitments and measurable timelines based on the resolutions adopted by the assembly on July 17.
Direct Appeal to Visitor Boakai
The resolution to remain on strike comes days after the ULFASA leadership met directly with President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, who serves as Visitor to the University of Liberia, at his residence in Paynesville to seek direct executive intervention.
Updating the assembly on the closed-door talks, ULFASA President Alahaji S. M. Dukuly disclosed that earlier engagements with the UL Administration yielded little progress while executive members faced intense pressure, including direct threats of dismissal, to abort the strike.
Dukuly noted that the meeting with President Boakai provided the leadership a rare platform to correct misleading reports previously submitted to the Executive Mansion regarding actual campus conditions.
ULFASA laid out a sweeping roster of grievances spanning dilapidated campus infrastructure, severe salary disparities, unpaid retirement contributions, unfulfilled change-of-status adjustments, and controversial provisions within the newly approved Human Resource Manual.
According to Dukuly, President Boakai acknowledged the severity of the institutional collapse and ordered immediate steps to resolve the crisis.
Infrastructure Overhaul and NASSCORP Debts
Addressing the breakdown of campus infrastructure, ULFASA highlighted leaking roofs, deteriorating classrooms, broken ceilings, non-functional restrooms, and a lack of basic operational supplies across campuses.
Dukuly reported that President Boakai mandated a multi-sector committee comprising the Ministry of State, Ministry of Public Works, UL Administration, and ULFASA to oversee immediate rehabilitation works led by the Public Works Ministry.
The President clarified that US$6.3 million previously allocated by the government is explicitly tagged for the physical rehabilitation of existing university facilities.
On employee welfare, the association pushed for the settlement of backlogged National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP) contributions.
President Boakai directed the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) to disburse US$2.4 million to clear outstanding obligations, allowing long-serving employees approaching retirement to receive their statutory benefits seamlessly.
Payroll Audit, HR Manual, and Operational Logistics
Salary disparities and unfulfilled wage promises also dominated the executive discussions:
President Boakai ordered the establishment of a joint committee to audit university payroll structures and address outstanding portions of the promised 40 percent salary increment. The findings will be factored into the FY2027 National Budget.
He also told the assembly that the President directed the verification of returnees from study leave and promoted staff awaiting salary adjustments, promising backpay as funding becomes available.
Addressing outcry over the Board of Trustees’ unilateral approval of the new HR Manual, the President agreed that the document must undergo an independent review alongside ULFASA to align it with the University Charter.
President Boakai has meanwhile committed to personally reviewing the controversial dismissal of a faculty colleague, as well as administrative concerns involving key officers, including Dr. Lester Tenny. Meanwhile, five new National Transit Authority (NTA) buses are expected to arrive prior to any campus reopening to alleviate transport bottlenecks.
No Signed Agreement, No Reopening
Despite the extensive list of executive directives, ULFASA’s membership resolved that presidential promises alone will not reopen the nation’s flagship public university.
Dukuly assured members that ULFASA representatives assigned to government monitoring committees will focus strictly on transparency, oversight, and systemic reform rather than personal compromise.
As thousands of students remain stranded in academic limbo, ULFASA maintains that responsibility for the deadlock rests entirely with the authorities: until ink hits paper on a signed agreement with explicit execution dates, the chalk remains down.
