Ahead of the Bong County Council Sitting, a group of Students under the banner ‘Bong University Students Union’ (BUSU) has presented a petition to the Bong County Legislative Caucus.
Reading the petition on behalf BUSU in Gbarnga, Bong County on Saturday, October 20, 2018, the president of the AMEZU, Emmet Mark Paye said they feel neglected, abandoned and orchestrated from the County decision making process.
The Students said the continuous marginalization and discrimination is one factor undermining the developmental agenda of the county, noting that the situation is alarming and has the propensity to derail the fragile love, unity, and harmony throughout the length and birth of Bong County.
They reminded leaders of the county that the vision of developing the county lies in the hands of the student community specifically BUSU.
According to student Paye, they are faced with tremendous and towering ambitions, adding that it will be a great waste of human resources if they the tertiary students are not given the opportunity to exercise their franchise.
“Putting an end to the Madam Suakoko Scholarship Program is a complete manifestation of the unparalleled shift for building the capacity of students from Bong County. It is vivid that the students’ community of the county has been ostracized for more than five years and BUSU has consistently engaged leaders of the county constructively so that students can benefit from this scholarship scheme,” student Paye stressed.
The Bong County University Union said the issue of the Bong County Technical College incompletion is one cardinal problem that their generation takes an exception to; it’s draconian and has the tendency for personal achievement that the only community college of Bong County projected at approximately around 4,394,776.97 USD and later on exceeded to 7,604,926.96 USD is at standstill in the county.
It can be recorded that October 2017, the county had spent more than USD $5 million, but the project is yet to be completed which has been under construction by the Liberia China United Investment Group.
The Construction project was expected to be completed in 2012, following the groundbreaking in December 2010 by former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
The aggrieved students at the same time recommended to the Caucus and the county administration that the student community through BUSU is given a slot to participate in whatever decision-making process, that there must be an immediate reactivation of the Madam Suakoko scholarship.
They want the Bong County Technical college to be completed so as to create conducive learning conditions for the students at the college and there should be a constituted independent body in consultation with the leadership of BUSU to steer the affairs of the scholarship, adding that it should not be channel through individual lawmakers, because it will constitute conflict of interest.
Receiving the petition on behalf of the Bong County Legislative Caucus, the chair Senator Henry W. Yallah assure the students that their concerns will be address and they will be included in the pending County Council Sitting.
The Senator at the same time assured the aggrieve students that the Madam Suakoko Scholarship will be reactivated in other to allow young people in the county to achieve quality education in the various Universities in the country.
