{"id":51214,"date":"2024-01-29T16:25:20","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T16:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberian-youth-eager-for-boakais-first-sona"},"modified":"2024-01-29T17:03:42","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T17:03:42","slug":"liberian-youth-eager-for-boakais-first-sona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberian-youth-eager-for-boakais-first-sona","title":{"rendered":"Liberian youth eager for Boakai\u2019s first SONA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. <\/strong><\/span>Young Liberians, especially those in public colleges and universities, are eagerly waiting to hear President Joseph Nyumah Boakai deliver his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) today, 29 January 2024 at the Legislature.<\/p>\n

Boakai was sworn in on 22 January 2024, succeeding former President George Manneh Weah who introduced a policy for free tuition at all public colleges and universities.<\/p>\n

Weah\u2019s government also offered to shoulder the payment of examination fees for senior high school students who sat for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).<\/p>\n

Only through legislation, these policies can be binding on successive governments.<\/p>\n

President Boakai\u2019s SONA is in fulfillment of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia which provides that the President shall, on the fourth working Monday in January of each year, present the administration\u2019s legislative program for the ensuing session.<\/p>\n

The Constitution says the President shall once a year report to the Legislature on the state of the Republic.<\/p>\n

In presenting the economic condition of the Republic, it says the report shall cover expenditure as well as income.<\/p>\n

During the regime of Boakai\u2019s predecessor, the administration initiated two policies that were never passed or enacted into law by the legislature.<\/p>\n

Student groupings from the University of Liberia petitioned the Legislature to pass these policies into law but to no avail.<\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview with Williamena Tarpeh, a student at the University of Liberia, she said she is eagerly awaiting President Boakai\u2019s decision on these policies through his SONA.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother, I\u2019m desperately awaiting President Boakai\u2019s SONA like many public universities across the country,\u201d said Ms. Tarpeh, an Accounting major.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to know if the President will continue our free tuition policy or discontinue it. But, what I want to say is that we want him to continue on this policy because it has brought great relief to our educational sojourn,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n

Also speaking, Lawrence Kamara, a student of the University of Liberia majoring in Mass Communication and Political Science, described President Weah\u2019s free tuition policy as a gift to bettering Liberia\u2019s human resource development capacity.<\/p>\n

According to him, the free tuition policy had brought unprecedented relief to Liberian youth and parents across the country, adding that it\u2019s saddening today that uncertainty hangs on the initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the free tuition policy to be maintained and so we want to know what the president will say about it,\u201d said Kamara.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there we will know what to do. But, to be real, we want the policy maintained and enacted. We hope that the President will announce [the] continuation of the policy today,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

For her part, Madam Ruth Kollie said parents are appealing to President Boakai to continue the WASSCE policy for high school.<\/p>\n

According to her, this had helped parents across the country, especially those who have more children in the senior high division.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son, I\u2019m a single mother. Since the introduction of this program, we have been relieved. I have three children in high school this year like many parents and so, we are appealing to President Boakai to maintain this policy that is why we are awaiting his SONA,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Liberia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. Young Liberians, especially those in public colleges and universities, are eagerly waiting to hear President Joseph Nyumah Boakai deliver his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) today, 29 January 2024 at the Legislature. Boakai was sworn in on 22 January 2024, succeeding former President George Manneh Weah who introduced a policy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":51212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-51214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-liberia","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"\nLiberian youth eager for Boakai\u2019s first SONA - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Young Liberians, especially those in public colleges and universities, are eagerly waiting to hear President Joseph Nyum ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberian-youth-eager-for-boakais-first-sona\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Liberian youth eager for Boakai\u2019s first SONA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Young Liberians, especially those in public colleges and universities, are eagerly waiting to hear President Joseph Nyum ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberian-youth-eager-for-boakais-first-sona\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Liberia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-29T16:25:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-29T17:03:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/sm_1706535087.359142.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberian-youth-eager-for-boakais-first-sona#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberian-youth-eager-for-boakais-first-sona\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Liberian youth eager for Boakai\u2019s first SONA\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-29T16:25:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-29T17:03:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberian-youth-eager-for-boakais-first-sona\"},\"wordCount\":550,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberian-youth-eager-for-boakais-first-sona#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/sm_1706535087.359142.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Liberia\",\"Liberia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberian-youth-eager-for-boakais-first-sona#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberian-youth-eager-for-boakais-first-sona\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberian-youth-eager-for-boakais-first-sona\",\"name\":\"Liberian youth eager for Boakai\u2019s first SONA - 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