— Unveils immediate part-timers payment at ULFASA’s General Assembly
The President of the University of Liberia, Dr. Layli Maparyan, has initiated the process of compensating part-time staff at the state-run institution as part of her initial goals within the first 100 days of her tenure.
Dr. Maparyan expressed these plans during the faculty General Assembly at Fendall Campus on Friday, January 16, 2025. She stressed the importance of considering various priorities and committed to addressing long-standing issues faced by the University of Liberia Faculty and Staff Association (ULFASA), including salary disparities, payment percentages, and faculty pay regularization.
“Each issue requires a unique solution and timeline,” she stated, pledging to prioritize paying part-time workers at the university, a process that is currently in progress. Dr. Maparyan emphasized the importance of reopening the university for operations. “I recently visited the Capitol Hill Campus and witnessed students, faculty, administrators, and staff returning, signaling the university’s reopening.” As part of her initial objectives, Dr. Maparyan also revealed plans to streamline the university’s academic calendar.
“I’m also committed to addressing the issues of the bathroom,” she said, acknowledging the deplorable and indecent situation of sanitation facilities at the institution. Her assessment shows some of the bathrooms have been renovated but not to the expected level for the comfort of staff. She disclosed that the Minister of Finance and Development-Planning has committed to allocating funds to accelerate the renovation of the bathrooms.
Dr. Maparyan also highlighted that in the 2025 National Budget, the University of Liberia has received a budget of US$33.9 million, with more than 90 percent of it designated for salaries.
“If you know that you have a budget, and 90 percent is allocated for salary, the 10 percent doesn’t cover much,” she said. She also noted that considering the tight budget, the administration will prioritize addressing the urgent issues, while the others are considered gradually.
The hiring of new staff in the middle of the budget execution process was another issue that the new president addressed, noting that it hampers timely payments, leading to indebtedness.
She highlighted that one of the reasons for unpaid arrears and existing irregularities with part-time staff is the budget allocation being based on the number of faculty during the budget submission. Dr. Maparyan emphasized that the addition of new staff mid-year complicates the approved budget, and she expressed a need to address this issue to ensure fair and efficient budget management.
In addition, the UL president said she has already held some discussions with the Ministry of Finance and Development-Planning to conduct a payroll cleanup exercise, stressing the need to identify and address any space of leakage; something she said the Minister of Finance has committed to providing assistance.
According to her, this process will take some time due to its technical nature, including lots of fact-finding and engagement with other related institutions but it is achievable by her administration with the collaboration and cooperation of the staff.
Plan To Raise External Fund For UL
At the same time, Dr. Maparyan stated that her administration underscores the need to raise funds from external sources for the university.
The UL President told the General Assembly that she has already begun identifying and reaching out to funders to begin funding the University of Liberia.
“I’ve also made a commitment take another look at the University of Liberia’s endowment because even though we have one but the university is oversized and an endowment is well managed and can contribute a regular and predicate amount of money into the coffers just by the investment performance,” Dr. Maparyan indicated.
She emphasized the significant financial impact the endowment has on the university and the faculty, promising to always inform the faculty and staff association whenever there is a funder, his/her contribution and how it will be used to promote accountability and transparency.
Furthermore, Dr. Maparyan vowed to lead the University of Liberia to a greater level through what she called the 5Ps: Education, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Excellence and Ethics, urging all staff of the institution to invest in the 5Ps and work together to improve the university.
Also speaking, the President of the UL Faculty and Staff Association, Dr. Edna Johnny reiterated implementation of the memorandum of understanding the faculty signed with the administration.
She highlighted the welfare, timely payment of regular staff and part-timers, decent working environment, provision of instructional materials and salary disparities among others.
“These are the reasons we decided to hold this General Assembly and call you, our members here today because she’s relatively new to our issues and she’s just coming in so her interaction with us is important, Dr. Johnny stated prior to Dr. Maparyan taking the podium.
The ULFASA boss also confirmed the government’s immediate determination to resolve one of the Faculty’s key issues – payment of part-timers, adding that the commitment was made by Finance and Development-Planning Minister, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan during a meeting.
“I even told him that two semesters have passed and you’re telling people (faculty and staff) to come back to class but they’re not still paid and we need to have some information to carry back to them,” she noted.
According to her, during the meeting, Minister Ngafuan stated that he has requested for the payroll from the UL administration and what it requires.
“There are two requirements they (the government) should ASAP – the bathroom renovation and the payment of part-timers and he (Ngafuan) promised that by next week, part-timers will begin taking pay and we’re holding him by his words,” she noted.
