Dear Editor,
I read with interest that the ex-Minister of Housing, Irfaan Ali, is a PhD student enrolled with the University of the West Indies. I note, too, the current discussion on the validity of his various academic credentials and his responses and offer the following as context for public consideration.
Ex-Minister Ali held office during the time that a known associate of his Dr Jacob Opadeyi, Vice Chancellor of UG 2013-16, was awarded a US$193,000 contract for the digitization of immovable property records and the establishment of an electronic database with linkage to the sub-registries of the Deeds Registry.’ See https:// www.stabroeknews.com/2014/news/guyana/03/19/deeds-registry-consultancy-ug-vice-chancellor-raises-eyebrows/ Dr. Opadeyi is a qualified Land Management and Geomatics expert with an extensive record of publication in these areas, some listed here https://sta.uwi.edu/eng/dr-jacob-opadeyi
At the time of the award of the contract, a faculty member at UG expressed concern at the apparent conflict of interest but Opadeyi proceeded with his contract and even moved to appropriate an entire lab at the UG where digitizing equipment was installed and students recruited to execute digitization tasks. Incidentally, the equipment was removed from UG at the termination of the work.
Now the public learns that the ex Minister Ali, apparently with little or no training or prior work experience in this highly specialized field of study, has delivered a PhD dissertation on “Design and Development of an Integrated Land Management Model in Guyana” and awaits the result of the dissertation evaluation. I trust that Ali’s dissertation assessors at the University of the West Indies will call on him to lead a detailed defence of his research methodologies, analysis and findings and subject the submission to extra scrutiny.
As a Big Fish, Mr Ali should remain aware that Guyana is a very small pond and that Guyanese are a perceptive and ‘long memoried’ people.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)
