UG symbolizes the tragic failure of this country

Apr 25, 2017 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I remember in the late eighties, Glen Khan, of Laparkan fame, had purchased Fogarty’s Store. Khan brought a guy from Miami, (I think Furnival was his name) to run the business. What Furnival did was to introduce designer wear in all the clothing and footwear departments. Mr. Furnival had no clue what Guyana’s economy was like and simply was running a department store based on his understanding of the American way of life. He meant well but he didn’t understand the nature of the society Fogarty’s functioned in.
I went one day to buy a swim suit for my little daughter only to find that the one I wanted was $15,000. In those days, that would be a price out of the reach of most Guyanese. Fogarty’s parted company with Furnival, who was of Italian extraction so he opened a pizza restaurant on Regent Street but that was short lived too.
What occurred with Fogarty’s under Furnival is now taking place with Vice Chancellor Ivelaw Griffith at UG. Sadly this half dead society cannot muster a courageous psychology to tell Griffith what he is doing at UG cannot work in Guyana.
You see Griffith, who was one of my student contemporaries at UG, left Guyana more than thirty years ago and since that time functioned in the American university system. I have no doubt that in his mind Griffith believes he is bringing UG into the modern world. But UG doesn’t have the money to do it; Guyana doesn’t have the money to do it, and maybe it can be done but not the way Griffith wants to do it.
Accustomed to large universities with cash that is never-ending, Griffith has introduced an American style structure at UG. In terms of relevance, it is ugly and overbearing. Not even oil-rich Trinidad with UWI- St Augustine Campus and the University of Trinidad have such an extensive mountain of super-paid administrators as UG does. To see these administrative layers under Griffith makes you feel disgusted with how this country has failed after 50 years of Independence.
UG has a Chancellor, Pro-Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, three Deputy Vice Chancellors, a Registrar, four Assistant Registrars, a Vice Chancellor’s Cabinet which has its own high level staff, a Director for Strategic Initiative. Then separate from the Cabinet the Vice Chancellery has its own staff headed by a Director of Administration.
To add to this pyramid UG will soon hire a Director for International Liaison as advertised in the newspapers. Mind you; there is a Deputy Vice Chancellor for international interactions. So you have a Director for Strategic Initiative, Vice Chancellor for international affairs and a Director for International Liaison. Guess who pays for this pyramid? Our tax dollars. But wait? More awful irrelevancies are to come.
Professor Griffith now wants to rent a massive structure on Camp and Lamaha Streets. The rental will be $6 million monthly and that figure is deceptive since UG has to pay for the maintenance. This insane business deal is coming from a university that is about to open a School of Business. To teach what? Voodoo business science?
In commonsensical terms, you borrow half a billion dollars from the bank and put up your own structure on the sprawling UG estate. The monthly payment to the bank is the seven million dollars rent you would be paying the owner of the behemoth on Camp and Lamaha Streets. In five years’ time, you own the building which will belong to the people of Guyana.
The problem is Vice Chancellor Griffith. He believes in the American approach to the university system but the Americans have the money to finance the grandiose schemes of Griffith. Guyana doesn’t. I went to UG at a time when Griffith’s resplendent expanses were non-existent and UG could have held its own against any university in the Third World. But Griffith is not the only problem. Rupert Roopnaraine is one. Vincent Alexander is one and President Granger is one.
Roopnaraine, the great Rodneyite, has not intervened as yet with Griffith and most likely will not. Alexander the great Burmhamite who heads the Forbes Burnham Institute told this newspaper in an interview that he wants to give Griffith a chance to do his thing.
And President Granger probably cannot or will not muster the courage to tell Griffith that his approach will bankrupt the university (which is dying in any case). By the time this country is willing to tell Griffith it had enough of him, the damage would be unsalvageable. I live a two-minute drive from the university and I wonder if Griffith would like to rent my home. I need that six million dollars a month.

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UG symbolizes the tragic failure of this country

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