Dear Editor:
Friday, February 15, 2008 was designated Open/Career Day of the University of Guyana (UG). Open/Career Day is the principal means by which the University seeks to ‘market’ its resources, programmes and services. It is an event that is often used by the university as a catalyst for making an indelible mark, primarily, on the impressionable minds of students of secondary schools and other potential students of the University. The event must have been successful in repairing, to a good extent, the damaged image of the university and giving thousands of youth a new or renewed vision and hope. Hardly had the taste of the event stimulated the gustatory sense of those who attended when news of the incident involving Dennis Edghill hit the country. How paradoxical!
The lack of security at the Turkeyen Campus of the University of Guyana is one of the major causes for concern. This is a minuscule part of a big problem that is really of national concern (when one considers the frightening events that have been unfolding in our nation). As a result, any individual, group or organisation intending to present such an event as the ‘After Open/Career Day Lime’ should have first thought of security, or the lack thereof. Secondly, any event that qualifies as ‘fund-raising’ held on the campus must first have been officially permitted by the Office of Resource Mobilisation and Planning (ORMP) of the University of Guyana. The ‘After Open/Career Day Lime’ was not permitted to be held on the campus. In fact, ORMP was not even informed of the intention of the University of Guyana Students’ Society (UGSS) to hold such an event. In light of this fact, is it not paradoxical that Jason Benjamin, President of the UGSS, supposed custodian of the rules and regulations that govern the student populace, chose to flout those very rules and regulations? Is it not a paradox that UGSS, or Benjamin, would present an activity which was illegal and ‘lawless’? Is it not a paradox that, subsequent to the incident that resulted in Edghill’s death, Benjamin chose to speak about his having told the UG Administration about security concerns?
Edghill met his demise as a direct result of attempting to rescue someone who was being, allegedly, assaulted. The pacifist pays with his life. Paradoxical huh! Hours after Edghill received the stabs, which would later prove fatal, the ‘Lime’ was still in ‘full swing’. Wow!
I empathise with the Edghill family, other relatives, friends and acquaintances who mourn the loss of such a notable and potential young man on that dramatically paradoxical day.
Yours faithfully,
Alvin Doris
