Dead people living in Guyana

Jul 03, 2017 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

This commentary is not about the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University of Guyana. I am no longer at UG; my contract was terminated by the UG Council in 2012, so my activism at UG is over. It is for other academics to democratize their workplace. What this column is about is the use of UG as an example to argue how dead this country is.
I have worked at UG with academics who fought three successive Vice Chancellors – Rose, Carrington and Opadeyi – to bring about a freer institution. Today, these very academics tell me that the current VC is far more undemocratic, unaccountable and intolerant than any of the past three named here. And in every instance, I would here the refrain, “Freddie, don’t quote me.”
Saturday night, I called a few of these people about this column which had to be completed by Sunday afternoon. I wanted to hear about the unusual step of an official ceremony to inaugurate the VC which I was told, from the description I received, will be a lavish affair. UG has never had an inauguration ceremony for any VC. I worked under four – Walcott, Craig, Rose and Carrington – and there was never such a thing. The last one before the current VC was Professor Opadeyi, and he did not get an official inauguration.
In talking to my former UG colleagues, they all expressed dismay at what is taking place at UG. One of these academics is someone whose activism was crucial in bringing about strike action when my contract was terminated. She said, “Freddie, I thought Opadeyi was the worst we could ever get, but this man is way beyond Opadeyi.” Then the raised tone came, “Freddie, please do not quote me.”
The current VC, Ivelaw Griffith, told the Stabroek News two weeks ago, he learned a lot from the thirty-six years he has lived outside of Guyana. It meant this man left UG and Guyana at the time we all graduated in 1978. Yet today, UG lecturers who stayed and helped UG to survive are afraid to be quoted on the nonsense of a lavish inauguration ceremony.
My grouse is not with the Vice-Chancellor. He wants an official installation ceremony that is one thing. The other thing is why academics I fought with can be so fearful of speaking up? That is of dire concern to me, not what the Vice-Chancellor wants. I was advised for the purpose of this column to go and look at the Trevor Hamilton Report to see where Professor Griffith picks and chooses what he wants from the report and ignores other recommendations.
I did that on Saturday night, since the report is online. But when I asked two of them why not confront the VC on these issues and highlight them for the Guyanese people to see, I heard the same refrain; “not me.”
My Saturday night conversations were really depressing. One UG lecturer told me that the UG officials have inflated the student population by three thousand; from 5000 to 8000. I was told to check the UG website and the numbers are not there. I did that. The numbers are not there. I got the current travel guide, an official publication of the tourism industry. UG student population stands at 5200. Yet not one lecturer is prepared to go public. These were the very people who fought Opadeyi.
As I stated above, I only used UG as an example to make my point, and my point is we are a dead country. In another column, I will take Professor Griffith head on. I will do so because I have contributed more to this country and UG than him. There is no question in my mind that the fear of speaking up that enveloped Guyana under the Jagdeo years is expanding. People appear more frightened. I encounter this all the time.
Look at the lady who exposed Anil Nandlall for blacklisting her. In 2017, she described her ordeal. This was two years after Nandlall fell from power, yet she was at pains to tell the Kaieteur News; “please don’t mention my name.” The obvious explanation is that she doesn’t feel the environment of trepidation has changed since she was blacklisted by the PPP Government. If she was hurt by a past government and is afraid to talk long after that government is gone, then imagine what is going through the fearful minds of UG academics.
What a country! What a sad affair! People are pinning their hopes on victory for a third party in 2020. They will die in despair.

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Dead people living in Guyana

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