Dear Editor,
My assessment here does not seek to argue with the main currents of an article in the Guyana Review ‘University in adversity,’ (July issue, 2009). My effort here points to a dimension in the analysis that I believe could not have been included in the writer’s articulation because there was no scope in his/her arrangement for looking at the politics that inheres in the chemistry of the university since it really became a top-class university in the seventies.
To examine the politics that inhere in UG’s life is a long discussion that maybe one day will find publication in the Guyana Review; suffice it to say that at the height of his authoritarian escapades, Forbes Burnham never contemplated weakening the university. Education has always been seen by the African middle class as an institution of African survival in Guyana and one of the priceless values African Guyanese contributed to this country. Burnham was faced with two choices – either ‘de-fund’ the university so as to weaken the stranglehold the anti-PNC academics had over it and resign himself to the fact that by devastating the institution he would be hurting an important community in the Guyanese civilization that Africans depended on; or leave things as they were.
One cannot argue that the Walter Rodney ban subtracts from the analysis here. The Rodney factor was an exception. Burnham had to follow Rodney wherever he went because Burnham saw him as his nemesis. The introduction of GNS did not hurt UG either because there was no reduction of African applicants, only East Indians and Portuguese. The acceptance of the Critchlow Labour College certificate by UG for entrance was also done to expand the numbers of African Guyanese at the school. UG at the time when the anti-Burnham roadshow was at its peak was not starved of funds nor were East Indian lecturers and students denied entry (Mohamed Insanally was sacked, however).
Burnham introduced ACHE (an ironic acronym) Academic Council for Higher Education as a means of strengthening the party’s control over UG and a branch of the PNC party merged with the Ministry of National Development was established on campus. But UG’s financial and educational integrity under Burnham did not wane. UG collapsed when the Government of Guyana from 1980 onwards ran into a balance of payments nightmare that wrecked the economy. Mr Hoyte could have done little to reverse the fortunes of UG because he didn’t have the time or the money. Enter the 1992 government.
Dr Jagan did raise the lecturers’ salaries by over fifty per cent after industrial action was taken. But Jagan agreed to shorten the lifespan of UG because lacking self-confidence, he took the advice of his Machiavellian protégés who insisted that UG should be discarded as it was a formidable challenge to the new government because it was a PNC niche. Jagan showed no sentimental memory of UG when he took the unprecedented position to confront what he thought was a PNC cabal. In 1995, the Jagan government removed duty free concessions for UG lecturers. Mrs Jagan as President was even harsher. Both Cheddi and Jagan Jagan accepted the painful medicine that, though Cheddi gave birth to UG, it had to die for reasons of realpolitik. Mrs Jagan in her short stint as President pursued a policy of neglect. The cruellest assault on UG came from the post-1999 regime. The government was harsh in its condemnation of UG. It didn’t resort to diplomacy.
It saw UG as contributing nothing to the treasury and in fact was a burden on the economy. An egregious policy of starving the university was put in place. The Council became stacked with PPP cadres whose only concern was to vote in support of the government. I saw this assault for myself and I knew Forbes Burnham would never have done that to UG. Not that he was a better leader but because of the ethnic factor that is essential to decision-making in this country. The tragedy of UG is that after seven years of relentless beating, the institution has become moribund. I doubt it can be revived in another ten years. It will take longer than that. The damage the PPP inflicted on UG is shocking.
I have the deepest respect for the new Vice Chancellor, Lawrence Carrington. He has a charisma and professionalism about him that attracts you to his agenda, and his agenda is one of saving the university. But Prof Carrington will soon come to the realization that Guyana is not the West Indian islands that he spent forty years working in where the professional ethos reigned supreme. No island Prime Minister ever interfered with Carrington during his long stay at UWI. In Guyana, he will find that his UG agenda will have items added onto it by the authoritarian rulers. If he leaves the rut will continue. Unless of course 2011 sees a PPP defeat
Yours faithfully,
Frederick Kissoon
