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CU Reaction to Emmanuel Flomo’s “10 Reasons Why Dr. Tokpa Should Leave Cuttington…” :: FrontPage
Written by Joshua D.B. Giddings, Vice President for Public Relations - CU
Thursday, 12 September 2013 13:10
Introduction
One Emmanuel N.B. Flomo wrote, in the August 8, 2013 issue of the FrontPageAfrica
Newspaper a malicious article, titled: “10 Reasons for Dr. Tokpa to leave Cuttington
University
.” First of all it is good to know who Emmanuel
Tokpa truly is. Emmanuel Tokpa 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
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CU Reaction to Emmanuel Flomo’s “10 Reasons Why Dr. Tokpa Should Leave Cuttington…” :: FrontPage
Written by Joshua D.B. Giddings, Vice President for Public Relations - CU
Thursday, 12 September 2013 13:10
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
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CU Reaction to Emmanuel Flomo’s “10 Reasons Why Dr. Tokpa Should Leave Cuttington…” :: FrontPage
Written by Joshua D.B. Giddings, Vice President for Public Relations - CU
Thursday, 12 September 2013 13:10
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 ( Read ).
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
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CU Reaction to Emmanuel Flomo’s “10 Reasons Why Dr. Tokpa Should Leave Cuttington…” :: FrontPage
Written by Joshua D.B. Giddings, Vice President for Public Relations - CU
Thursday, 12 September 2013 13:10
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.
Joshua D.B. Giddings,
Vice President for Public Relations
0886552536/ Email: [email protected]
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