Debtors to the United Methodists University, including lawmakers here, risk having their names published, as the administration says patience is running out.
By Emmanuel B. Juduh
Monrovia, Liberia, June 26, 2024—The President of the United Methodist University, Rev. Yar Donlah Gonway-Gono, issued a statement in Monrovia calling on debtors to the university, including current and former lawmakers and private individuals, to fulfill their obligations.
Rev. Gonway-Gono threatens to publish the names of debtors who will fail to pay their debts between now and July 6, 2024.
According to her, the university has not met payroll needs for the past five months because of unpaid tuition owed by most students and their sponsors.
She reveals that some of these people owed the university US$12,000, $13,000, $27,000, $30,000, and $70,000, respectively.
Besides, she says overseas partners, especially those in the United Methodist Church, are not supporting the United Methodist University due to the global separation issue the church is faced with concerning homosexuality.
“At home, pastors and members of the Liberia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church have not kept their promise to support the University. Not only that, but these are also the same people who send their children, relatives, and friends here and expect them to be educated free without paying tuition,” she said.
At the same time, the UMU President, in a disappointed mood, told scores of journalists in the conference hall of the United Methodist University that “At the Annual Conference, we made a pledge to the entire Annual Conference in 2022 in Gbarnga, and there was a promise that many of the pastors and the churches were going to raise money to help the university, but that didn’t happen.
She says some United Methodists can afford it but still expect the university to enroll their children freely, saying, “And we don’t have that kind of money because this is a tuition-based institution with no help, and the people we were depending on in the U.S., who used to help the university in the past because of the split, they are no longer willing to support the university.”
When asked whether she is disappointed, Rev. Gonway-Gono answers, “Yes, I’m disappointed. Editing by Jonathan Browne
