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Senior UG staffers sacked

Sep 04, 2013 News

 
UGWU to meet today on the way forward
Following the “controversial” dismissal of two senior University of Guyana (UG) staffers, members of the University of Guyana Workers Union (UGWU) are set to meet today to discuss the way forward.
John Seeram and Hazel Bentinck, who, before being sacked, worked as Bursar and Chief Accountant respectively, and were both sent on leave in early April to facilitate a Special Audit carried out by the University of the West Indies (UWI).
UG ran into financial problems and a special audit was commissioned into the institution’s accounts.
After the audit was completed and the report was handed to the UG Council, the body, by way of majority, voted for the dismissal of the two long-standing employees.
Kaieteur News understands that a decision was made by the council to have the two senior officials dismissed since the audit revealed improprieties that occurred under their supervision.
Some of the improprieties listed in the report were “The Bursarial functions are being supported by IT systems that do not function in accordance with best practices that included the absence of a unique password to access data or ability to make changes to prior period data.”
The report further stated that “the significant number of manual processes which impact on the level of accuracy and efficiency and operate without the evidence of sufficient checks and balances.
And “improper segregation of duties and user access and improper reconciliation in regard to the payroll function.” These were among some of the findings that were unearthed from the special audit.
However, some officials attached to UG said that the decision to have the two employees dismissed was uncalled for. According to the sources the audit report stated implicitly that “no acts of malfeasance were identified.”
“In essence, the dismissal was unjustified since the report itself showed that there was nothing substantial to have the long-serving employees dismissed.”
Kaieteur News understands as well that apart from the decision being unwarranted, it was also done hastily and without any due process. Senior UG officials said that neither Seeram nor Bentinck was given the opportunity to be heard by the council with respect to the findings made by the special audit.
Seeram and Bentick had responded to the council; however their reports were not laid before the council.
The head of the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) Dr. Patsy Francis in an invited comment said that she did not find any wrongdoing with respect to Seeram and Bentinck in the performance of their duties. “What was found was a system not tight enough but lent itself to the possibility.”
“What was found puzzling is that the university operated at deficit, so the bills had to be paid in some way, there was no money to steal, the union has a particular difficulty with the dismissal in general” she further stated that “UG has had audits by the Auditor General’s office for many years, this very council (UG) accepted the auditor’s report up to the end of 2012.” She said that the auditors looked into the accounts not knowing of the financial constraints and deficits and the compounding need to pay staff salaries, “hence, they will obviously find discrepancies. “We believe that Bentinck and Seeram were treated most unfairly; they were not culpable in any way,” Dr. Francis alluded.

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