UG and the failed leadership of Granger and Nagamootoo

Sep 10, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
The editorial of this newspaper for Monday, September 4, 2017 on UG observed the following, “After a year of new leadership, many students believe that the philosophy of UG has changed from meeting their needs and improving the services to one of elevation of senior personnel. According to the students, the new leadership at UG seems bent on making things more difficult for them to acquire an education. It is known that UG is a cash-strapped institution which depends on public funds to cover the cost for most of its operations. Yet, the leadership was about to rent a building on Lamaha and Camp streets to house a School of Business for G$6 million per month. How would such a school benefit the taxpayers? Why not a school of computer science or engineering or mining or public management which would be beneficial to the country?
“As if this idea was not silly enough, the Vice Chancellor has added three new Deputy Vice Chancellors to the roster of UG hierarchical structure, thus making UG with less than 5,000 full-time students, top-heavy more than most large, wealthy North American Universities with over 20,000 students. Presently, UG’stop bureaucracy consists of a non-resident Chancellor, a resident Vice Chancellor, a Pro-Chancellor, three deputy Vice Chancellors, a Registrar, four deputy Registrars, a Vice Chancellor for Cabinet, a Chief of Staff Vice Chancellor and several Directors, deputy Directors and Heads of Department. It seems that the new leadership at UG is not getting the message that the institution has deteriorated to the point where it is hardly conducive to proper higher learning. Almost all areas at UG—from its dorm to the library to the compound, the computer and science labs, lights, toilets, classrooms accommodations and other basic necessities—are in very poor shape. How can the leadership at UG expect students to dwell and learn under such difficult and poor conditions?” (end of quote)
That editorial did not attract any comment(s) from the political directorate, the media, political society or civil society. But it is a deadly reminder of how dead this country is and even with oil money, it will not come back to life. Here is a quote from my column on the coming oil money, “With all the talk about steady income to the state from oil money which will allow for social development leading to economic elevation, Guyanese are concerned about how this money will be spent and they believe it will be used for lavish extravaganza.” Thursday, July 6, 2017, “Spending new money in an old political culture.”
Here is another quote from another column on how the oil money will be spent, “You can see from the mentality of these leaders that there is going to be huge spending without commonsense. That oil money in the hands of the PPP leadership that we had in control of Guyana and the PNC and AFC that are now in control, as my mother used to say, “Will melt like butter against the sun.” People without commonsense do not know how to use money wisely.” Tuesday, August 22, 2017, “Money without commonsense evaporates into nothingness.”
That editorial left out that a dimension of UG behaviour is so crucial to an understanding of the type of visionless and mediocre leadership that we elected after May 2015. From the time that new leadership came into being, there has been an extraordinary amount of money spent on trips and entertainment that the Guyanese people and the staff at UG would never have believed if they were told that this would happen after the change of government in May 2015.
UG’s multi-layered leadership is always out the country and the money spent on inconsequential frivolities calls into question the leadership of Granger and Nagamootoo because it is taxpayers’ money these UG jetsetters are spending. Granger and Nagamootoo found themselves at the coronation of the new Vice Chancellor that cost dozens of millions. UG never had a coronation for a Vice Chancellor. I don’t have frustration with the lack of leadership qualities of Granger. It is quite clear to me that after two years in power, the type of thinking Granger embodies he would see nothing wrong with the type of spending taking place at UG.
I don’t think Mr. Granger has a grasp of Guyana’s enduring problems. But certainly not Nagamootoo. This man has over forty five years experience and now that he is in power, he is not shaping a legacy. He will bow out without leaving a legacy. Tell me Moses, did you enjoy yourself at the coronation for the new Vice Chancellor?
Frederick Kissoon

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UG and the failed leadership of Granger and Nagamootoo

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