“Tighten your security system” – UGWU President urges UG Administration

Jul 12, 2017 News

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–   alludes to unimplemented security measures

Although a consultancy was conducted sometime ago to determine how the University of

Guyana [UG] could boost its security, those findings were reportedly never utilised. UG to date continues to suffer from far too many security breaches, some of which have been reportedly hurting the institution.

Some of these security breaches have resulted in several reported cases of pilfering that have even gained the attention of the Guyana Police Force.

But this should have never been the case, contends President of the University of Guyana Workers’ Union, Mr. Bruce Haynes. He recalled that the University had recruited [now deceased] Former Commissioner of Police, Mr Laurie Lewis, to conduct a consultancy to determine how the security system at the university could be improved.

“He was tasked with determining what are our security protocols and how we can defend the university’s territory; how we can preserve the property belonging to the university from theft by staff or theft from external sources,” said Haynes.

There to date remains a lax in the system even after this process.

Recognising that there was still a breach when he assumed the post of Vice Chancellor last year, Haynes said that Professor Ivelaw Griffith decided to bring on board a group of ex-military and paramilitary persons to conduct a security audit.

Haynes claims that this process was hampered, reportedly because of a financial issue. As such, he concluded that “the security is nowhere…it becomes an issue of money.”

The UGWU President noted that financing such a process should have been a priority for the university. “How are we going to deal with our security problems if the issue of how much money we have to pay these people is not addressed… nobody is going to do this for just thanks,” said Haynes.

Haynes has registered his concerns on this matter in light of the fact that several reports of pilfering, causing the university to lose millions, have been linked to the constituents that he represents.

“Now when you say things like millions of dollars are lost, you cause people to think staff and others who are associated with staff and members of the unions, are condoning and hiding the culprits, and that is a dangerous thing,” said Haynes.

Haynes is however adamant that “I haven’t hidden anybody; I don’t know anybody who has stolen, and if there are cases where you have found staff stealing, there are procedures that you have to go through.” This, according to Haynes, requires the setting of an internal Committee to investigate and once there is damning enough evidence, that can then be turned over to the police.

However, he noted this was not the position that was taken by the Vice Chancellor when there were reports of pilfering at the University’s Centre for Information Technology [CIT]. Instead, both Haynes and President of the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association [UGSSA], Dr. Jewel Thomas, informed that the Vice Chancellor had in fact made a unilateral decision to call in the police to investigate.

“I asked if this was the appropriate course of action,” said Dr. Thomas who revealed that she has since learnt that there has been no evidence implicating the persons who were sent home to facilitate the police investigation which is reportedly ongoing.

The UGWU President is of the firm belief that “If you come into a situation and you recognise there is laxity, first you have to tighten your system. I have said at a number of fora, this university campus is porous. People can come in from any place; you cannot distinguish a student from a person on the street…outside of an identification badge you cannot distinguish between the two,” he insisted.

According to Professor Griffith, during an earlier interview with this publication, the pilfering problem has undoubtedly helped to contribute to the financial challenge that UG has been faced with over time.

“If we have to replace 17, 18, 19 million dollars a year of stuff, how can we progress as a university? These are equipment for classrooms, for offices, even some of the contractors [are stealing]; stuff are just being stolen from this University,” Professor Griffith related.

“This University has a lot of theft,” he stressed adding, “I’ve publicly said we don’t have drones coming… [so] it is staff or students, or people facilitated by staff or students, who are coming and stealing stuff.” According to the Vice Chancellor, when one takes into consideration the persons who are already being investigated, there is a nexus between them and some people associated with the university.

“We have to look ourselves in the mirror and say ‘who is going to fix these things?’ It has got to be us,” said the Vice Chancellor, who claimed that he has asked the University unions to help him to address the existing dilemma.

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