28/01/2026
PRESS STATEMENT
PROGRESSIVE STUDENTS ALLIANCE (PROSA)
University of Liberia
Capitol Hill, Monrovia, Liberia - West Africa
Email: [email protected]
Contact: 077 045 7525 /0777676803
PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PROSA RESPONDS TO PRESIDENT BOAKAI'S SONA ; DEBUNKS LIES AND CALLS FOR TRUTH TELLING TO NATIONAL DISCOURSE!!
Comrades and friends, disciples of egalitarianism, crusaders of social justice, academic freedom, and peace, militants and cadres of the Progressive Students Alliance, the dejected masses of our people, exploited plantation and mine workers, conscious students of the Republic, progressive members of the fourth estate, distinguished ladies and gentlemen;
The Progressive Students Alliance (PROSA), a revolutionary student movement rooted on the campuses of the University of Liberia, has critically examined President Joseph N. Boakai’s 2026 State of the Nation Address. After a thorough analysis, we conclude that the address is long on figures but short on truth, rich in promises but poor in people’s reality. What the President delivered is not a State of the Nation Address—it is a State of Government Self-Praise, disconnected from the living conditions of students, workers, peasants, and the oppressed masses.
PROSA’s uncompromising revolutionary position:
1. ECONOMY GROWTH :
The President boasts of 5.1% GDP growth, 4% inflation, and a US$1.2 billion national budget. Yet the masses are choking under:
Rising food prices
Transport hardship
Tuition struggles
Graduate unemployment
If the economy is growing, why are students still hungry?
If inflation is down, why the cost of living so high?
Macroeconomic growth without social justice is economic violence. An economy that does not uplift students, workers, and market women is an economy built to serve elites and foreign interests.
2. EDUCATION: RHETORIC WITHOUT RESCUE
Government claims reforms, digital learning, and funding for public institutions. But on the ground:
UL remains overcrowded
Lecturers underpaid
Learning conditions degrading
Students protesting for basics
The University of Liberia, the intellectual womb of national consciousness, is treated like an afterthought. Education is not a favor—it is a right. PROSA rejects cosmetic reforms and demands massive, transparent, and sustained investment in public education.
3. HEALTH: NUMBERS VS HUMAN LIVES
The SONA parades statistics on immunization and medicine availability. Meanwhile:
Jkf , redemption hospitals and other hospitals are still fighting to have drugs. The masses are dying from curable diseases.
Campus clinics are dysfunctional
Mental health is ignored
Students die quietly from preventable illnesses
Health cannot be reduced to charts while the poor suffer in silence. A sick student population is a deliberate failure of the state.
4. RULE OF LAW: JUSTICE FOR THE POOR OR PROTECTION FOR THE POWERFUL?
We heard speeches about anti-corruption and governance reforms. But reality shows:
Selective justice
Untouchable officials, most public officials who are or were involved into looting state resources are walking free.
Endless delays in high-profile cases
The rule of law in Liberia still wears class clothing. Until the law punishes the powerful and protects the powerless, justice remains a slogan, not a system.
5. R**E AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE: CRIMINAL SILENCE
The President’s SONA failed the nation morally by its silence on r**e and sexual violence.
In a country where:
Children are r**ed
Survivors are ignored
Perpetrators walk free
Silence is complicity.
PROSA declares: A government that refuses to confront r**e is an enemy of women, girls, and justice. We demand justice, survivor protection, and zero tolerance—now, not tomorrow.
6. UNIVERSITY OF LIBERIA: ABANDONED BUT UNBROKEN
UL students continue to endure:
Inadequate facilities
Administrative neglect
Political interference
Yet the SONA offered no clear timelines, no concrete allocations, no structural transformation. Let it be known: UL will not die quietly. The revolutionary consciousness of students will not be buried under budget excuses.
7. AGRICULTURE: POTENTIAL WITHOUT YOUTH POWER
President boakai claim that farmers received support and failed to gave location. But where are:
Youth-led agro-industries?
Value-addition centers?
Land access for young people?
Agriculture cannot remain a rural survival scheme. It must become a liberation industry for educated and uneducated youth alike.
8. JOB CREATION: TEMPORARY WORK, PERMANENT POVERTY
President Boakai boasts of creating 70,000 jobs and promises another 120,000 through a so-called youth employment program, yet the living reality of the people exposes a cruel contradiction: instead of genuine job creation, the regime is entangled in private profiteering, including the construction of multimillion-dollar condominiums in Foya, while government officials loot state resources for personal gain. As the economy continues to struggle and ordinary Liberians sink deeper into poverty, the president appears more concerned with erecting Unity Party headquarters across the fifteen political subdivisions using taxpayers’ money, purchasing US$500,000 luxury vehicles, and parading around with extravagant credit card spending and wasteful party celebrations. While the masses go to bed hungry and unemployment ravages the youth, the president flies private jets, governing in excess and deception, far removed from the suffering reality of the people.
PROSA’S FINAL POSITION
President Boakai’s 2026 SONA represents:
A government managing perception, not transformation
Statistics masking suffering
Reform talk without revolutionary courage
PROSA stands firmly with the oppressed masses. We reject elitist governance and demand:
Free, quality public education
Justice for r**e survivors
Real jobs for graduates
People-centered economic planning
An end to corruption and impunity
History teaches us this truth:
When government fails to listen, the people organize.
When students are ignored, they mobilize.
When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.
LONG LIVE THE AVANT-GARDE PARTY!
LONG LIVE THE REPUBLIC!
LONG LIVE THE MASSES OF OUR PEOPLE!
ALUTA! CONTINUA!
Done and issued on the 28th day of January AD 2026 by mandate of the all-powerful chairperson of the revolutionary avant-garde progressive students alliance of the University of Liberia.
Signed: ________________________
Cde. Togar Harris Williams
Secretary General/PROSA
Approved:______________________
Cde. Justin W. Jallabah Jr.
Chairman/PROSA
