Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix said yesterday that he has not received any instructions to execute a travel ban on University of Guyana loan defaulters and the press was later accused of using language loosely.
“I have read it in the newspapers. All I am going to say, in terms of execution that has not reached me. That statement has not reached me from the top, so I would be waiting to see what the honourable minister really intends when he puts out the documentation but we don’t know where that statement came from. I cannot account for it. It is not within official circles at this point in time,” Felix told the Parliamentary Sectoral Commit-tee on Foreign Relations.
Last week Wednesday, Felix and Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge made presentations on the mandates, roles and functions of their respective ministries with regard to the issuance of visas, work permits and citizenship. This was followed by a question and answer segment which continued yesterday in the Committee Room at Parliament.
Both Felix and Greenidge found issue with the use of the words “travel ban” and questioned whether the minister did indeed use them.
Committee member Nigel Dharamlall was the first to raise the issue. He asked Felix whether his ministry would be the one executing the ban and whether a list of those who would be stopped from leaving the country could be provided.
Felix responded that stopping persons from leaving the country “is nothing new.”
He said that as regards persons who know they have studied at government’s expense and want to go abroad, the contractual arrangement states what must be done if they wish to travel.
Chair of the Committee Gail Teixeira interjected stating that the issue now is the use of the word “ban” adding that she had seen it mentioned numerous times in the newspapers.
“While the Cabinet did not agree or had a proposal about stamping passports, all information on recalcitrant borrowers will eventually be put at all immigration points and we will set up a desk at the same time for those who would be stopped from travelling to make the necessary arrangement for payment of the loan or debt prior to departure,” Finance Minister Winston Jordan said on July 29.
At the time, he was responding to questions at the unveiling of the newly commissioned $26.5 million Student Loan Agency at the university’s Turkeyen Campus.
An audit, conducted by accounting firm HLB, R Seebarran and Co, revealed that the delinquency rate in repayments was 70% which amounted to billions of dollars for the period December, 2011 to May, 2015.
Felix, in his response to the concerns and questions raised, stated that he has seen it but “within government circles that has not reached me.”
Teixeira stated that if what government said was misrepresented, then government has to correct it.
“They have to come out and say look this was a misrepresentation…,” she said noting that the media reports are that the students who owe will be stopped at the airport and prevented from leaving the country.
“That is completely different from monitoring and saying Mr Dharamlall you are a bonded student and therefore you come with a letter that says you are in good standing,” she said.
Teixeira pointed out that the statement implies that one must pay off the sum owed before one can leave the country. She told both ministers that if it is a misrepresentation to encourage Jordan to correct it.
She said if he had indeed said that, “We would then be like Minister Felix waiting to see how this is going to be implemented.”
Minister Greenidge later added that sometimes when the media reports are read, language is used very loosely.
“I am not aware that the Cabinet took any such decision about banning anyone and I am not even aware that word that you emphasized is a word that the minister himself used. If that is the case, none of the ministers here was responsible for making that statement… I don’t think we can answer any more than that,” he said.
Jordan said that up to May, 2016, some 26,239 loans were granted to the tune of $9.5 billion, with repayment to date totalling $1.75 billion and installments due amounting to some $5.7 billion.
To this end, Jordan announced a number of measures to ensure that those who have been granted loans repay them upon completion of their programmes, in keeping with the terms and conditions of their contracts. These include new requirements for borrowers who wish to switch from one programme to the other. “Such borrowers must first pay off the full sum of all outstanding loans before accessing a new loan,” he said.
According to Jordan, loans will only now be given to Guyanese students who have been residing in Guyana for 180 days continuously and these borrowers must be owners of a valid Guyanese passport.
The minister also announced a “jubilee” offer which will see a 75% reduction in the accumulated arrears of interest if borrowers clear indebtedness no later than August 31, 2016 as well as a 50% reduction in the accumulated interest if borrowers bring their accounts up to date by September 30, 2016.
Work permits for foreign students
Meanwhile, in response to a question from Teixeira, Felix said he was not opposed to the idea of work permits being granted to foreign students who may want part-time jobs to help sustain themselves during their time of study here.
However, he noted, “that is not covered in our laws as yet,” adding that it probably will be subsequently.
Teixeira stressed that often these students are only able to pay their tuition fees and cannot handle living expenses. “The issue of living in Guyana and rent and so on,” she said adding that space to do part-time work is something the government may want to consider.
“I would have no problem considering it,” Felix said.
Teixeira also questioned Felix on the visa issue some Nigerian nationals who attend the Texila American University have been experiencing over the years.
In response, the minister said he had no applications for student visas or extensions on his desk. He said he had no knowledge of the delays that Teixeira spoke of. He said the students of that particular university do not take in their applications themselves, rather, it is done through the administration of the facility. “So if there is a delay there, I can’t give account for that. What I do know [is that] within a relatively short period, less than a month, just about two weeks, we would process them and get them off quickly because they are not difficult, once they [the students] are here already,” he said.
A student visa is valid for three years and Dharamlall questioned whether government saw the need to amend the policy to move the time period to four years.
Felix responded that this involves a “mild extension because the first extension is an additional three years which takes the time to six years.” He said the three-year period has been there since the inception and back then some thought must have gone into it.
Committee member Minister Nicolette Henry said that not all students going to university will do a degree which will take at least four years to complete. She said there are courses such as law which require three years along with a number of associate degrees.
According to statistics released last week, from January 1 to June 30 this year 20 student visas were issued. The nationalities of those persons were not provided. In 2015, 62 were issued and in 2014, 103.
