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Liberia: 36 Seafarers Qualified to Board Vessels
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The Inquirer (Monrovia)
31 March 2008
Posted to the web 31 March 2008
C. Winnie Saywah
Some thirty six Liberian seafarers who underwent refresher courses at the Liberia Maritime Training Institute (LMTI) have received their certificates in accordance with the reversed STCW Convention of 1995 and are now qualified to work on vessels world-wide.
The awarding of such a long-awaited honor was made fulfilled at the offices of the Bureau of Maritime Affairs in Sinkor after an eight-month period of intensive training under the guidance of the LMTI commandant, Captain Armett Hill.
In his presentation of the certificates to the deserving Liberian seafarers at the weekend, outgoing Maritime commissioner, John Morlu said the task ahead is now for the incoming commissioner to ensure that those who have underwent such training exercises be provided jobs.
Commissioner Morlu said Liberia should begin to find the means to arrange with vessels flying the Liberian flags and other international vessels so that those qualifed Liberian seafarers can exhibit their skills.
He said that due to the intensity of the training program, Ghanaian experts had to come in to assist in making sure that Liberia gets the best out of the trainees.
The outgoing commissioner stated further that currently some 26 Liberians are being trained at the Regional Maritime University (RMU) but that 20 will be receiving their Bachelor of Science Degrees as engineers in port management, fire prevention, and fire fighting among others.
As Liberia is already in dire need of more seafarers, Commissioner Morlu said the Bureau is clothed with the mandate to give out certificates while the LISCR is responsible to issue the books to qualified seafarers.
The principal deputy to the commissioner of Maritime Affairs, Angela Weeks, admonished the graduates that with trained seafarers there can be a boost in the nation's economy and then urged them to set examples that others may emulate.
Madam Weeks said the training of seafarers in the country now proves that Liberia is prepared to bring hope back to its maritime industry.
Viewing the tasks ahead as daunting, Madam Weeks said that it can only be fruitful if there are corroborative and collaborative efforts from all those who are involved and interested in the maritime affairs of the country.
She urged the seafarers to keep convicting the bureau and continuously make 'positive recommendations as a sign of helping those in the hierarchy learn and remember to tackle unresolved tasks.
The Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Maritime and Fisheries, Joyce Musu Sumo pledged government's willingness to work with the bureau to ensure that qualified and disciplined seafarers are rightfully placed nationally and internationally noting that Liberia must be represented at all maritime levels. She then admonished the Seafarers Union, an organization from which she originated, to remain steadfast and committed in the process.
The head of the United Seafarers Union, Freeman Gueh and the spokesperson of the graduates, John Massaguoi, thanked the bureau and the LMTI for such efforts but expressed doubts about the possible absorbtion of the graduates in the mainstream of the maritime process.
They requested that a seafarer be present at every ILO meeting at least since all of their paper works to qualify them has been completed. They specially thanked the outgoing maritime boss Morlu for his role played at the bureau and prayed that the incoming commissioner would exhibit the good characteristics of his forerunner.
Those that received certificates underwent diversity of training including elementary first aid, fire fighting and prevention, personal survival techniques, and personal safety and social responsibilities.
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Among those who were certificated included Dixon Jlah, Emmanuel Sampson, Sandy Lahai Ansu, Michael Kaifa, John Flumo, Emmanuel Johnson and Massaquoi.
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