Fairness is advocated in matters like these

Jul 13, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
As a former University of Guyana (UG) student, I have been following the narratives about the lecturer whose contract was not renewed June 2009 by the UG Administration, “The double standards at UG” (Kaieteur News, July 4th, 2010). The contract would have covered the period from August 2009 to August 2010.
Although he appealed to the UG Council for justice, the UG Administration out manoeuvred him by simply obtaining several extensions to provide the reasons for not granting the contract to the UG Council, and eventually not producing the reasons.
Surely, when the UG Administration did not renew the lecturer’s contract in June 2009 it must have had at least one reason then. Why take a year (not) to produce the reason unless it wanted to frustrate the appeal.
In the end the UG Council decided not to make a decision on the merits of the appeal.
It is not surprising the UG Council did not demand the UG Administration provide the reasons because it might have found the reasons to be in error. It would then have had to compensate the lecturer for the year’s salary and benefits. Also, the public would also have been in a position to judge if the reasons offered were reasonable had the UG Council ruled against the lecturer.
As it stands, the UG Administration might have discriminated against the lecturer because of his race, religion, or political affiliation but we will never know because the reasons were not subject to scrutiny.
The UG Administration’s decision was accepted on blind faith by the UG Council.
Transparency, one of the principles of “good governance” and fairness, is advocated in matters like these because it forces the accuser to show whether his hands are clean or dirty and also subjects his reasons to challenge. The UG Administration did not show its hands. If there was nothing to hide why keep its hands behind its back? The UG Council and its chairman by permitting this state of affairs are as much responsible as the UG Administration for this glaring violation of justice.
A word of advice to the UG graduate who wrote the letter of July 4th; do not trust any institutions including universities.
They are run by people, and some people do not have a sense of decency or shame, or care to do the right thing even if they are PhD’s or professors. And remember “That’s life in Guyana.”
Pamela Franklin

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