Four PPP/C members of the University of Guyana (UG) council last night defended the decision to cancel the contract of lecturer Freddie Kissoon, saying that he failed to meet staff requirements and that no member of the body was in favour of keeping him on.
Breaking their silence on the decision amidst continuing protests by university students and staffers, Indra Chandarpal, Bibi Shadick, Nirmal Rekha and Gail Teixeira said in a joint statement that Kissoon’s contract was reviewed as part of a move to correct a breach in hiring by current Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lawrence Carrington.
They added that the council ultimately rescinded Kissoon’s contract because as a retiree and a Lecturer 2 he did not qualify under the university’s policy for the retention of academic staff.
The requirements to be met for the retention of staff include a healthy academic record, including research and peer-reviewed publications, as well as facing a competitive process with other applicants, they noted.
“The council was unimpressed and not one single member of the 14 council members present at that meeting, including the [University of Guyana Students Society] and fellow colleagues of the academic staff, not a single member supported his retention. The council rescinded his contract,” the four PPP/C representatives said in the statement.
They added that the council also agreed that with four new members of staff and existing staff, the students would not be disadvantaged by Kissoon’s absence.
“These are the incontrovertible facts. The barrage of lies, downright misinformation and political opportunism can somewhat be related to the lack of this information in the public domain, and we the concerned council members expect that these facts disclosed in this release have set the record straight,” they added.
Kissoon, 61, a newspaper columnist who has written critically about PPP/C administrations, has said the decision to terminate his contract was political. Opposition parties have condemned the council’s decision, which has also fuelled continuing protests by students and staff. Kissoon’s termination letter did not include a reason for the decision.
The PPP/C representatives said that they had patiently waited over the last week for the university authorities to publicly correct “the misinformation, lies and personal attacks” that they have individually and collectively been subjected to since the implementation of the January 18, 2012 council decision.
“We complied with the code of the council to not disclose the private and internal discussions of the council and its various bodies. However, due to the lack of response by the UG authorities despite our repeated requests and in the face of the constant and consistent breach of the code, we have decided to provide the public with a factual account,” they said, while adding that the council makes decisions in accordance with the University of Guyana Act and the Statutes of the said institution as a collective and by consensus, rarely by vote.
‘Breach’
They also revealed that the review of Kissoon’s contract was part of a process to correct a breach by Professor Carrington, who renewed the contracts of 12 retired academic staff members over the age of 60, without recourse to the Appointments Committee and Council as required by the law.
As a result, they said the council in October last year, with support of the legal opinion of an “outstanding legal luminary in the law faculty,” decided that it urgently needed to correct the breach.
“The Council therefore sought to have these contracts that were improperly executed go through the correct process. Regrettably Coun-cil’s attempts to do so took until January 18, 2012 to be concluded,” they added.
According to the PPP/C representatives, the issue of contracts of academic staff who have reached 60 years of age has been addressed by the university, with policies going back many years. Nothing has changed, they added, except that that these policies are now being implemented.
Kissoon reached 60 on December 30, 2010, they said, and as was usual was allowed to continue to conclude the academic year until August 2011.
At the January 18 meeting, they said the council considered the appointments of 37 academic staff, including eight of the 12 of those whose contracts were improperly renewed. The council accepted the recommendation that those who were at the level of Professor or Senior Lecturer be retained, they explained, adding that of the remaining four retirees who were referred by the Appointments Committee, the council agreed to retain three of them on a part-time basis.
