Dear Editor,
The September 28 election is of great importance to the short-term and long-term future of the University of Guyana. As a university, we need strong leadership for the next year. We the candidates of the Students Empowerment Alliance (SEA) submit that we are the best qualified to lead the Student Council.
We would like to remind the University of Guyana community that the Student Council is not a figurehead. This is a real job with real hard work, and we consider that we are the best qualified candidates to perform the job.
The reality is there is a massive disconnect between what students want and what students actually get. There is a huge difference between the wishes of the rank and file members in our Student Society and those who make decisions for the students, and we will change that by representing students at all levels. We believe that student power is about being able not only to demand quality education because students pay, but demand it because they have a right to it. That’s why we are looking to promote student empowerment and the student voice to show that students have the power.
Students must become aware of their power, their rights, and use this power to secure change. We are here with the aim, if chosen, to not lead blindly. We know the plight of students, we are students. We have not estranged ourselves in any way from campus.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” As students we must be the change factor.
The Students Empower-ment Alliance, as the name suggests, is a broad alliance of students who are fed up with the way the UGSS has been administrated for a number of years, and the poor conditions, physical and otherwise, under which students are expected to study and attain academic excellence. One of the fundamental characteristics of the Students Empowerment Alliance is that its members do not subscribe to a top down, elitist kind of administration.
We do not think that the few possess the right to think and make decisions for the many. We subscribe, on the contrary, to a view of politics, be it student politics or national politics, in which the many are able and capable of deciding for themselves what their needs are.
Our task therefore is not to think, but to act on behalf of the students while they focus on their academic pursuits. In a word, we are not their brains, simply an extension of theirr muscles.
As one philosopher put it, simply tell us where you want to go and we will quickly run in front of you to clear the way.
In line with this philosophy, our manifesto is a reflection of the face to face discussions we have had with the students across all faculties and the responses we garnered from our on-line surveys.
We urge students to make the right choice.
Yours faithfully,
Adel Lilly
