GOVERNMENT is of the view that many of the issues that are being brought to its attention with regard to the University of Guyana are now being used to gain weight, or to legitimise, the current protest actions at the Turkeyen campus. Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon stated that President Donald Ramotar had disclosed that he was written to by a number of bodies representing the interests of the students and workers of the University of Guyana to meet, to examine, and to have some resolution of issues they had identified.
Among the issues identified for intervention are the current matter dealing with decisions made at the levels of the Appointments Committee and the Council.
“My understanding is that the issues arose subsequent to interventions made at Appointments Committee level and UG Council level about specific matters affecting the University of Guyana, affecting employees and students,” Dr Luncheon added.
He said, the administration has continued in its less-than-aggressive style, which we feel is warranted, in addressing what precisely took place, and the basis of actions taken.
Dr Luncheon further explained that lack of aggression, Cabinet feels, has indeed allowed the matter to  be hijacked by partisan interests, and blown into a veritable protest action that threatens to get out of hand, impacting on students, welfare of the members of staff, and the bodies.
Cabinet’s outlook is that, with resolute, incisive action by the UG Administration, this matter and those that have been brought into the fray but are unrelated to the decisions that led to the protests, if addressed comprehensively in an engagement among stakeholders including the government, ought to allay apprehensions and in place a fairly good recipe for moving forward with the pressing task of addressing concerns at UG.
“I believe, further, that in the imminent departure of principle, administrators of UG itself may be contributing to some level of irresponsible agitation and action that is being perpetrated at UG on the campus,” Dr Luncheon said.
He said such problems affect all participants, and that well-thought-out solutions bearing some reasonable input by stakeholders would remain the preferred action.