Lacking: acceptable standards for the conduct of our affairs

Jun 10, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
On Tuesday, June 2, 2008, I was approached by a reporter from NCN, who enquired whether I was the chairperson of the Asbestos Removal Committee of the University of Guyana.
She also enquired about the commencement of the removal of the asbestos from the buildings on the Turkeyen Campus.
I advised her that I am the chairperson and that my responsibility is not asbestos removal, it is the evacuation of the campus by June 30, 2008 so that the contractors, under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, could commence the process of asbestos removal on July 1, 2008.
With that understanding, I undertook to do an interview for NCN Television.
In the interview that followed, I indicated that the removal from the campus would commence on June 16, 2008.
Quite surprisingly, I heard subsequent news broadcasts that announced the removal of asbestos from June 16, 2008. Even more surprising was the letter to the press from the president of the University of Guyana Students‘ Society, in which he sought to upbraid the University’s administration for its ‘caddish approach and inaccurate report to those responsible and the public.’
Mr. Benjamin is a member of the Task Force, which I chair. Mr. Benjamin has 24 hours’ access to me, which he has on occasions made use of.
It is therefore passing strange that Mr. Benjamin’s first recourse would be to the letters columns and that he would be so judgmental, hostile and self-righteous in his conclusions, without taking the opportunity which is readily available to him to verify the report.
There can hardly be any useful purpose that his approach could serve in the pursuit of the objective of having asbestos removed from the University of Guyana, an objective which we all purport to embrace.
What bothers me most is not this occurrence, but the antagonistic, abusive, discourteous, intolerant and uncivil relational culture that characterises our manner of conduct of organisational and interpersonal relationships. Even sadder is that our young leaders seem to be hostages to this culture.
Also of concern to me is that our news reporters can so easily get it so wrong. There is much to be done to make our land a better place and to establish acceptable standards for the conduct of our affairs.
Vincent Alexander

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