INSIDE THE LCU VETTING COMMITTEE

By Paul M. Kanneh

Liberia’s underdevelopment owed much to the problem created by its leaders. At 177th years, Liberia is the only country in the subregion that its government’s officials can withdraw US$6 millions on the counter and failed to account. Additionally, the country’s officials are often in the habit of conducting counterproductive politics much to the disadvantage of their own citizens. It is country that its decision makers choose tribalism over competent, partisans over qualification and money over experience.

Seeing as an exception, the dirty politics has entered Lofa County.

This can be traced to the CDC’s political strategy that nearly plunged the county into chaos. It seems some of the current members of the Unity Party in or from Lofa are copying after the CDC by preferring tribal and political alignments over qualification, experience and competence.

Reference can be made to the vetting committee set up to review the profiles of candidates vowing for the position of President of the Lofa County University. Over the last 24 hours, there have been counter and counterclaims of unprecedented manipulation of the vetting process by members of the committee with vested interest in total disregards to qualification, competence and experience.

This, I am told, is largely attributed to tribalism-with allegation that a leading candidate is from a tribal group that has dominated the leadership of the University since its formation.

The games to disqualify this candidate in person of Dr. James Karmoh Sowah has varied from missing of his cover letter from his application folder to report that he has not done research publication. These games are contrary to the truth, but are only intended to deny Dr. Sowah. Based on this, this write has endeavored to know Dr. Sowah better amid the committee’s claims.

Dr. James Karmoh Sowah has written and published several research papers, and has got about 199 citations. Meaning, 199 scholars have seen, read and referenced Dr. Sowah’s papers. See link to his citations https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra.

Below are research papers published by Dr. Sowah obtained from Google Scholar.

1. A wavelet coherence analysis: nexus between urbanization and environmental sustainability. See link to publication: http://1. https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:d1gkVwhDpl0C
2. “The dynamic impact of energy productivity and economic growth on environmental sustainability in South European countries”. See link to publication: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:Y0pCki6q_DkC
3. “The asymmetric and long run effect of energy productivity on quality of environment in Finland”. http://See link to publication: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:Tyk-4Ss8FVUC
4. “Energy productivity and environmental quality in Sweden: Evidence from Fourier and non‐linear based approaches”. See link to publication: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:eQOLeE2rZwMC
5. “Investigating factors affecting global environmental sustainability: evidence from nonlinear ARDL bounds test”. See link to publication: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:2osOgNQ5qMEC
6. “Time-frequency dependency of temperature and sea level:” a global perspective. See link to publication: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:u-x6o8ySG0sC
7. “Resources or development first: An interesting question for a developing country”. See link below: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:9yKSN-GCB0IC
8. “The asymmetric and symmetric effect of energy productivity on environmental quality in the era of industry 4.0: empirical evidence from Portugal”. See link to publication: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:WF5omc3nYNoC
9. “Modeling financial liberalization and economic growth in Liberia: a dynamic analysis”. See link to publication: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:qjMakFHDy7sC’
10. “The asymmetric and long-run effect of energy productivity on environmental quality in Ireland”. See link to publication: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:YsMSGLbcyi4C
11. “Modelling the Effects of Financial Liberalization and Economic Growth in Liberia: Evidence from Combined Cointegration Test”. See link to publication. https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:u5HHmVD_uO8C
12. “The Effect of Domestic Risks and Arab Spring on Economic Risk in Northern African Countries: Findings From the First-and Second-Generation Panel Approaches”. See link to publication: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:UeHWp8X0CEIC
13. “Management and conservation of Mediterranean environments” This is a book with a below Chapters “Understanding the Concept and Limitations of Circular and Green Economy in the Mediterranean Region” See link to book: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:zYLM7Y9cAGgC

This is also another Chapter (4) of Dr. Sowah’s Book chapter 4: Understanding the Concept of Environmental Values and the Factors That Lead to Contradictions and Conflicts in Environmental Planning and Management. See link to publication: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=VBZnvj4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=VBZnvj4AAAAJ:ufrVoPGSRksC It is interesting to note that each of these chapters are sold for US$37.50.

While it is reported that the committee has already submitted its finding to the Board of the University without the name Dr. James Karmoh Sowah, it is important to let the public know that Dr. Sowah is a scholar with the GPA of 3.59 out of 4.00 contrary to claims made by influential members of the vetting committee.

In summary, Dr. James Karmoh Sowah has two masters in Banking and Finance from UL and Master of Philosophy in Development Finance from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and PhD in Business Administration with emphasis in Economic and Finance from European University of Lefke.  Besides being a scholar, Dr. Sowah was the most experienced among the candidates with over 15 years’ experience in the management of higher institutions of learning.

He worked for 13 years at the University he is being denied to head as President. He rose from Comptroller to Associate Vice President for Institutional Development for the same University then Lofa County Community College. He is currently the Vice President for Administration and Finance for Bomi Community College.