I was either a fascist tyrant or great superstar at UG: Which one? None

Feb 03, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I worked for twenty six years at the University of Guyana. During that time span, every three years, I faced contract renewal based on research and competent teaching, first by my faculty, then by the Appointments Committee, then by the Council. During those twenty six years, Bharrat Jagdeo was President of Guyana for twelve years. During those very years at UG, the PPP appointed one of their members to be the Vice Chancellor, Dr. James Rose. Dr. Rose was a PPP election candidate in 2001 and 2006
In November 1999, I wrote my first critical piece on President Jagdeo. He became President in August of that year. From 1999 until the day he demitted office at the end of 2011, I have been a critic of Mr. Jagdeo’s bad governance. While there were mordant judgements of mine on the former President and during which time he verbally abused me to the point of libel, I had my UG contract renewed three times under Jagdeo’s presidency and the Vice-Chancellorship of PPP election candidate, James Rose
The explanation by the five PPP UG Councilors for my dismissal was that I was a non- performer. Why didn’t Jagdeo, acting through Rose, reject my contract renewal? There are three explanations. One is that I was such a tyrannical fascist intimidator of Rose and the other academics that each time my contract came up for renewal, they were shaking in their booths and forcedly accept my continuation. The second is that Rose and the other senior academics who have to approve my contract were so smitten by me that they didn’t want to see any assessment from me; contract renewal became automatic
Then there is the truth. After each three year period, my contract renewal came about because, the academics at UG and Rose as the Vice Chancellor had to stick with the criteria laid down – evidence of competent teaching and research. My evaluation in those twenty six years came from academics I had no close or even the thinnest of friendship with. I produced my research, and my teaching was satisfactory. I was awarded contract renewal eight times at UG
I had to be a fascist tyrant or great superstar at UG to receive eight contract renewals without publishing any research, without doing any research and with a poor performance in the classroom. But I was none of these two descriptions. I was an ordinary UG lecturer who did his work. I will forget about the likes of Gail Texieira, Bibi Shadick and Indra Chandarpal and Nirmal Rehka, PPP Councilors that voted for my premature contract ending. Ms Shadick may still have memories of me denouncing her application to be Registrar after I literally threw her application onto the ground in my capacity as a UG Councilor. Her curriculum vitae was bare and it would have been treason against the existence of civilization to have chosen her in front of Vincent Alexander.
The person I want to single out here is Prem Misir. I am not concerned with Misir’s claim that a university has just awarded him professorship. I have been in academia so long that I know how professorship is acquired. It comes from an institution after long years of service to the university by the particular academic. But if Misir said he was the recipient of a professorship, then I am not interested in questioning it. I guess the only fact that cannot be questioned is that Misir lives and works in Guyana. So the University would not have awarded him the accolade as a full-time staff on its payroll.
My challenge to Misir is his work against mine. Misir keeps publishing edited books. What about an authored book that was not self-published, meaning you pay a publisher to print it? I want to challenge Misir on our Social Science competence. My sabbatical research is on the shelf of UG. Each academic has to produce sabbatical research and submit it to the Appointments Committee. Mine was handed to James Rose at a statutory meeting of the Appointments Committee by Dr. Mark Kirton.
It is a book length manuscript of the nature of the PPP, its exercise of power and the nature of the East Indian support for it over the past sixty years. I contend that Misir could never write anything like this on Guyanese political sociology. I challenge him on that. Misir has never done any research of this quality. If we had a functioning University, my sabbatical report would have been published as a book through University funding. I funded my own sabbatical research through the help of three businessmen. Let Misir write such quality work. He should not be a UG Councilor.

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I was either a fascist tyrant or great superstar at UG: Which one? None

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