THE University of Guyana (UG) has noted with grave concern a letter in your
2010-09-08 edition, purportedly written by Professor Vijay Kumar and titled “The $41M question.” The letter makes a series of unfounded allegations against one of the University’s staff and, by implication, the University as a whole. Our concern has mostly to do with the damage relationships that the publication of such a letter could potentially have. One would have expected that the Guyana Chronicle would have afforded the University the courtesy to respond to such a mischievous attack.

For the public record, and to prevent any possible harm by this obvious act of deceit on the part of the letter writer, the University has decided to set the record straight.

The alleged unaccounted-for money refers to funds made available for the
development of the Geology Department in the Faculty of Technology by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC). This partnership between UG and GGMC is formalised in a bi-yearly Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), of which there have been three, starting in 2004.

The following points must be noted:

(i) all budgeted funds under the MOUs remain within GGMC’s financial accounts and therefore under its direct control. There is no upfront or blanket transfer of funds to UG or to any of its officers or staff;

(ii) should the Geology Department wish to acquire any capital item (such as books or computers), it has to make, through the Faculty, a request to the GGMC for the GGMC itself to purchase the items. The GGMC does not give any money to the university to buy such items. The department only takes receipt of the purchases;

(iii) all capital items obtained by the Geology Department under the MOU are duly logged into the University’s Assets Register;
(iv) close to 70% of the MOU budget is earmarked for the payment of UG tuition fees for students sponsored by the GGMC, and for payment of part-time lecturers in geology and mining. The university has to first invoice the GGMC before GGMC makes these payments;

(v) all unspent sums from the MOUs remain with the GGMC;

(vi) in the six years of the MOUs, the GGMC has expressed no dissatisfaction with regards to the expenditure and accountability of funds.

Professor Vijay Kumar, the purported letter writer, does indeed exist. However, his existence does not mean that he authored the letter and even if he did, he would have been provided with misinformation by someone, who is well aware of GGMC`s relationship with the University.  In fact, the University does have evidence of such a person, who has made such malicious statements.

Sir, we hope these brief points clarify the matter in the minds of those who may have been deceived.

Editor’s note – We carried a retraction and apology on page 6 of our Friday September10, 2010 edition.