Why did UG increase those fees?

Feb 07, 2018 Freddie Kissoon

Freddie kissoon column

At the time of typing this column, (Tuesday morning), the UG student body has called a meeting to discuss the increase in a wide range of administrative fees.
On the students’ side, the argument is that there should not have been an increase unless there was a corresponding improvement in service. They are contending also that the approved increases fell under the 2017 budget and should be brought up for discussion in 2018. Thirdly, they feel that it should have the stamp of the ultimate decision-making organ – the Council.
On the administration side, the explanation is that services have improved and that UG needs money, since government subventions alone sustain the university’s existence.
What the student body and those in society that reject the increase should ask themselves is, why UG chose to do that?. One has to understand the nature of this country if one is going to make sense of why institutions in Guyana do the things they do.
We will answer the question on both the theoretical and practical levels.
I am of the unshakeable opinion that a group of robbers will not approach a couple in an army vehicle if it is parked at midnight on the seawall road. There are two types of thinking that will be present. First, army people are trained and by nature not an easy walkover in a physical encounter. Secondly, there is the possibility that the occupants may be armed. I am one thousand percent sure that those same robbers will attack a couple if they are at that time on the wall in a civilian vehicle. Why?
An act of robbery, home invasion, human rights violation, bank invasion and other actions in those categories have rational thinking that goes into their planning. Humans do violent and wrong things because they feel that they will not be caught or they will do it without enduring repercussions or they can easily overcome the repercussions or that they can get away with it. The subject here is not UG specifically. The UG fees thing is just used as an example to offer an analysis of Guyana’s sociology.
First, the UG administrators know this country hasn’t got a rebellious, radical, no-nonsense student population. They believe policies, however unpopular, will not generate volcanic passions on the campus. Secondly, they know the central government will take a hands-off attitude. Thirdly, they know society couldn’t be bothered. The increases will make the news. Days will pass. And life goes on as if nothing occurred. As I observed above, UG is not alone in this perception of Guyana.
No junior traffic rank will desist from making random stops, because he knows he will not be sanctioned by his bosses, the government and the society. GPL will promise no further blackouts for the week after we had a long one the first day of the week. Then constant blackouts follow. GPL knows there will be no protest. Guyanese will “suck their teeth” and accept the situation.
The GRA will mishandle citizens they serve and there will be no consequences. No senior rank will be suspended. No senior rank from the NIS will hauled over the coals for contemptuous treatment of our old folks. State-employed doctors know that there will be a short-lived publicity uproar over death due to neglect, and then the episode dies and the doctor lives to endanger poor people’s lives again.
Have the people of this country heard anything about the results of the inquiry into the death of the 10-year-old girl who was kicked in her stomach, went to Georgetown Hospital, was treated and sent away, and died the next day? The post mortem showed she died from internal bleeding. The subsequent comments revolved around misdiagnosis. So the Ministry of Public Health launched an investigation. What became of the report (for more on this sad reality in this sad country see my column of April 3, 2017, “Death of a ten year old in Guyana.”)
Private employers know they have a line to the Labour Department, so they can enslave their employees (as many private security firms do) and there will not be any investigation.
Remember during the Jagdeo/Ramotar reign, the Russian bosses of the bauxite company actually flouted a court decision regarding arbitration. They knew what Guyana was like and they knew they could have gotten away with their unilateral outrage.
I don’t know what the UG students will do. But I know my country and this I know; after today, the students will let their voices be heard and by Friday, life goes on. Donald Trump has a description for such countries.