Lessons in authoritarianism…

…to UG students
Modern youths can’t live without their smartphones that connects them to their world. And your Eyewitness uses the word “their” advisedly since they’re promised that they can choose who to tune in or tune out. Literally. Unfortunately for them, there are a few contacts they can’t tune out if they want to climb up the totem pole – one of them being the University, where they’re supposed to learn the skills that’ll make them manoeuver in the world of adults.
Well, this weekend they learnt a valuable lesson: in Guyana the rule of officialdom is “do what yuh want widdem!” “Dem” being students at this stage of their lives – but it’s a tag that they’ll wear for the rest of their lives. Unless, of course, they join officialdom and get a free pass as “one of the crew”. And what was the specific lesson in arbitrariness, you dear readers without college-enrolled kids, ask?
Well that even though students paid up their fees, collected their receipts… were assured they could now hit the books, they were informed via e-mail on their smartphones and other electronic devices that “Ooops! You have to pay another 5 per cent of the fees!!” Meaning for the regular, non-professional degree programmes means another $8000!
Your Eyewitness is very pleased that students – via the same devices that they can also send out and share their opinions faster than the old village gossip – are riled up and are threatening to storm the rickety gate at UG tomorrow morning. It’s not just the money – even though $8000 might be chicken feed to Ministers who pocketed a whopping 50 per cent salary increase – it certainly isn’t for most parents who’re studying with their subsistence wages. But more than that it is the principle of the increase and its method of informing students.
Two years ago, when the fee structure was raised, it was specifically spelt out for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 school years. This year it was supposed to be $160,000 (from the original $127,000) – plus a $50,000 “Facilities Fees” up from $10,000. And imagine the UG administration thought they were gracious to inform the students they wouldn’t be changing “late fees” on the $8000 increase – of which they were never informed!!
In typical authoritarian fashion which the students will have to live with daily as adults with the government they will vote for, the UG czars claim the increase was voted on 2 years ago, but not announced!! Really? What other tidbits are being held in abeyance?
Is this ambush one of the US ploys that’ll be used by the new Vice Chancellor in running UG??
So whatever happened to “informed consent”??
…to Govt’s overseas handmaidens
It was oh so poignant… this letter from Asquith Rose. For years and years he’d been writing missives (hurling “missiles”?) against the PPP from his New York habitat. More often than not he was do-authored by Sase Singh, an ex-PPP member. They railed against all the horrible things the PPP had done to Guyana and its treasury. A posse of scribblers formed around them.
They became poster boys for the AFC and with a marriage in the air by 2015, picked up pens on behalf of the APNU/AFC alliance. Oh they worked their fingers to the bone with their letters appearing almost daily in the local dailies – especially the Muckraker. They even hosted the soon Prezzie-and-PM to be. Raised funds and all that.
They did say they were doing it all for their country. But something funny happened on the way to the swearing-in of their former “boostees” – the latter forgot their boosters. The woebegone scriveners just dashed off “demands” to Prezzie.
Patriotism has a price?
…to corruption fighters
The Procurement Commission’s been thirteen years in the making. This government promised it in three months. 18 months later we’re told “no TOR”!!!
Fiddling while the country’s looted?