BCTC students reject new president

Students at the Bong County Technical College (BCTC) are requesting President George Manneh Weah to cancel the appointment of Dr. Roland Massaquoi as College president in favor of current acting president Dr. Charles Mulbah to head the institution.

“All that we have to tell our President is not to appoint Dr. Massaquoi as President of our struggling college, otherwise it will be a real academic catastrophe for us as students” Abraham Kumakeh, a student from the Agriculture Department at BCTC told our Bong County correspondent Wednesday, 7 February.

Our correspondent said students were on Wednesday, 7 February claiming that bringing back Dr. Massaquoi to head BCTC is an alleged act of taking the college back to its darks days.

Students were said to have filled the corridor of BCTC during instructional period on Wednesday when information hit the campus that the former college interim president Dr. Massaquoi had been appointed by President Weah.

According to some of Dr. Massaquoi’s opponents, he allegedly operated the institution in his interest and welfare.

“We don’t want Dr. Massaquoi, we need our current president, not someone who will have no time for our learning but just to mismanage taxpayer’s money,” student Abraham Kumakeh continues.

He says if President Weah should have a good government, he needs to listen to the cries of the people, especially students.

During the days of Dr. Massaquoi as interim president of BCTC, there are claims that there were protests at the institution, with claims that one event of such led to the closure of the college by former President Ellen Johnson – Sirleaf in June 2017.
The students were said to have protested on grounds that the Interim Management Team was not doing enough to improve the condition at the college, complaining of lack of an up-to date library and science laboratory, among others.

After the closure of the College, former President Sirleaf appointed Dr. Charles Mulbah as acting president. Some of Dr. Massaquoi’s opponent sees Dr. Mulbah as being in their interest, with argument that he reduced the cost per credit hour from US$6.00 to US$5.00, while also reducing registration fees from US$110.00 to US$75.00.

By Joseph Titus Yekeryan in Bong–Edited by Winston W. Parley