Published: February 4, 2025
MONROVIA — The National Teachers Association of Liberia (NTAL) is embroiled in internal conflict as members call for a full-scale audit of the institution under the leadership of Madam Mary Nyemah. Recently, a group of aggrieved members from across the country staged a peaceful protest at the NTAL headquarters in Sinkor, demanding an audit and accusing the Nyemah administration of alleged corruption.
At a press conference over the weekend, Madam Mary Nyemah, President of NTAL, strongly denied the allegations, dismissing them as baseless. Despite her rejection of the claims, tensions have continued to escalate within the association.
A group of dues-paying members of NTAL recently filed an eleven-count resolution, urging Madam Nyemah to submit to an audit to account for the association’s finances over the past six years. During the demonstration in front of the NTAL headquarters on 12th Street in Monrovia, group spokesperson Lydia Massaquoi called on NTAL veterans, the Ministry of Education, and the Liberia National Police to intervene and press the leadership to comply with their audit demand.
Count Two of the petition called for a mass sit-in at the NTAL headquarters by a majority of the National Executive Committee members to pressure Madam Nyemah into agreeing to the audit. The petitioners also requested that their legal representatives petition the Civil Law Court at the Temple of Justice to freeze all NTAL accounts for no less than 90 and no more than 180 days until a full audit is conducted and its report presented to the association’s Representative Council, in accordance with NTAL’s constitution.
Responding to the controversy in a media engagement in Monrovia on Thursday, Madam Nyemah stated that the association had already been audited by a firm known as More Monrovia, in accordance with NTAL’s constitution. She added that the Representative Council and National Executive Committee, which authorized the audit, were awaiting the final report.
Addressing claims that members were collecting signatures to impeach her, Nyemah stressed that NTAL’s constitution outlines specific procedures for the impeachment of elected officials. She also dismissed Samuel Johnson, a former NTAL official, stating that he was officially removed from his position by the association’s General Assembly during a gathering in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County. She warned NTAL members against individuals claiming leadership positions illegitimately, cautioning that they risk being deceived by such actors.
On Monday, November 11, 2024, Judge Golda A. Bonah Elliott of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court delivered a final ruling in a case involving former Secretary-General Samuel Y. Johnson Sr. and other aggrieved NTAL members against Madam Nyemah. The court rejected a vote of no confidence passed by the aggrieved members, ruling that NTAL’s constitution does not provide for such a measure. Instead, it affirmed that the National President can only be impeached by the Representative Council based on evidence, with such actions subject to review by the National Convention, the highest decision-making body of NTAL.
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