This final showdown will determine our future

Feb 13, 2015 Letters

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Dear Editor,
This letter comes to you because I think the Guyanese public needs to understand the situation at the University of Guyana for what it really is – the final showdown.
Firstly, I should indicate that I am too young to know the absolute details of what existed at the UG before 1992. However, I know enough for the analysis I will present. Very early in life I took a position to be apolitical, knowing well that Guyana is very political and that there could be some short-term benefits to such alignment. I have lived my entire adult life under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP/C) and I have been observant.
It is common knowledge that staff at the University of Guyana are engaged in industrial action since the 26th January, 2015 after attempts by the University’s administration to stall negotiations on salaries, benefits and working conditions, impose a new workload policy without consultation and derecognize one of the workers’ unions. The student union has given its support by making its own demands, starting what is labelled the UG Revolution and calling for students to stay away from the campus. Although some staff members continue to work and some courses are being taught, the industrial action has been largely effective, even amidst threats to staff by the University Administration and to students by some lecturers, who either cannot or will not support the industrial action.
In all this, authorities external to the University, with responsibility for it, have publicly stated that they will not intervene. In the first week the Minister of Education indicated that she will not get involved because the University has a governing council. The Minister and Ministry have since been silent on the issue.  Recently, the Minister of Labour stated that his ministry will not intervene because it lacks the legal scope. Appeals to His Excellency the President, who has himself been educated at UG, have seemingly fallen on deaf ears. He has neither spoken publicly on the matter nor entertained the students or staff for discussion. Why have these authorities allowed the premier educational institution in Guyana to come to such a position?
The current UG Council, which has been appointed by the Minister of Education, who has chosen silence, consists of four PPP/C Members of Parliament. These MPs are long serving members of the PPP/C who have been heads of party arms, ministers of government and one is currently the party’s chief whip in parliament. These heavy hitters are very busy people and the fact that the GoG, through its Minister of Education, has seen it fit to invest their time and energy on the UG Council means that it has significant interest in the governance of the University. However, it is important to establish the nature of this interest. Could it be that the GoG has sent out its best for a final showdown?
Before 1992, Guyana was ruled by the People’s National Congress (PNC) for 27 years. For the greater part of this period the president was His Excellency the late L F S Burnham, a nationalist whom many would agree took to very drastic measures to realise his vision. When he died in 1985, His Excellency the late H D Hoyte became president and remained until 1992. President Hoyte’s approach was different from his predecessor’s and despite substantial changes during his time he could not, nor might he have been inclined to, undo all that was done before. Of significant importance is the issue of who controlled national institutions that were to be either semi or fully autonomous. It is my understanding that they were controlled and populated by PNC supporters. Some were overly qualified, but they were party supporters nonetheless. When the PPP/C took office in 1992 these institutions were considered to be opposition controlled. Hence, successive PPP/C governments sought to take control by placing their supporters in the leadership and ‘ranks’ as the PNC had done. In some cases, the loyalty of leaders and ‘ranks’ were secured from the PNC by various means whereas in others the old leaders and ranks were replaced.
The University of Guyana falls into the category of institutions that were perceived to be led and populated by PNC supporters in 1992. Since then, successive governments have sought to take control. The shift from free university education to cost recovery with the introduction of student fees is likely the first big move. Fees would filter entry and as the PPP/C supporters were more affluent and could afford to pay; the less affluent PNC supporters would have to obtain a loan and then finding a job to repay. For 20 years, successive PPP/C governments have refused the University the opportunity to keep the fees in sync with the US dollar, while simultaneously limiting its subvention to the University. Consequently, the University could not afford to pay staff on par with similar institutions in Guyana nor could it compete for overseas skills.  Ultimately, the institution could not function effectively and in the latter years it began to run at a deficit. One could deduce that the plan was likely to punish the institution so as to squeeze some staff out, thus allowing it to be populated by PPP/C supporters. Of course, this had to be achieved through governance and management of the institution.
More recently, changes were made to the way officers and administrators are appointed. It is likely perceived that a tipping point is now reached, where the University could finally be ‘broken’. The stage is therefore set for the final showdown for full control of the University of Guyana (as had the previous regime) and the PPP/C has brought out the big guns to guarantee victory.
But there is one thing the PPP/C did not anticipate and may not yet realise has happened.  While some of the people that they wanted out are gone, they were replaced largely by young, intelligent, free-thinkers, with a passion for Guyana and its sustainable future development. It is these passionate, patriotic, free-thinkers that the PPP/C is now challenging for control of the University. The difficulty they face is that they know how to fight the politically minded but are ill-equipped to take on free-minds.
It is said that a University is a microcosm of the society. This is especially true of Guyana. The fact that the University of Guyana has been able to move from political minds to free thinkers, is an important sign of a great future for Guyana. Hence, a challenge to the future of the University is a challenge to that great future for Guyana. We, the Guyanese people at home and abroad, cannot allow the University to fall in this battle. We must provide support (moral and tangible) to those on the frontline. They are fighting for more than just the University of Guyana; they are fighting for our future as a nation of free people.
This is the final showdown. This will determine our future.
 Guyanese Partiot

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