THE Students Empowerment Alliance (SEA) is just one of the groups contesting the University of Guyana Students Society (UGSS) elections and its Presidential Candidate, Richard Rambarran has a new approach which he believes will enable them to be successful.

He told the Guyana Chronicle, in a recent interview, that he decided to contest this year, after viewing the entire circumstance at the university as being volatile and feels he can implement certain things which would make differences.
Nineteen-year-old Rambarran previously served in various capacities in the UG Economic Society, which was resuscitated in 2011 and he is the current Secretary.
He has received awards for public speaking and exemplary academic achievements and is also a bodybuilder.
The SEA is a party which was established in 2011, with the aim of bringing students’ issues to the fore and advocating for students’ academic, social, religious and cultural advancement.
Rambarran said his party’s slogan is ‘A platform for progress’ and is basing its campaign on three main pillars – constitutional reform, advocacy and student involvement.
According to him, the things which  have been drafted into the manifesto for execution, in the event that they get into office, are all realistic needs at this point in time but could have been done years ago.
Rambarran indicated that, in the area of constitutional reform, the main issues which they would address are those of transparency in the way the UGSS is run and how the students vote.

LOBBY
In terms of advocacy, he explained that they would lobby for the improvement in the delivery of services, by the administration, to the students on campus.
Rambarran stated, further, that they would also cover a wide range of areas, including, but not limited to the sanitary conditions, quality of teaching, timeliness in the release of grades and dearth in the supply of refreshments to students in the evenings.
He said they would also try to lend much greater support towards  the societies, clubs and groups on campus, so that they can have UGSS operating in the manner it should as an umbrella organisation.
Rambarran also claimed that some groups do not, usually, get the amount of funding or recognition and cooperation they should from UGSS.
The Queen’s College (QC) graduate and final year economics student emphasised that it takes concerted action by students, as a collective, before the administration responds to their concerns and they must be mobilised and ready to take action in unity.
According to him, SEA has adopted a different strategy in the campaigning to show the public and the university that they have achievable, realistic goals with which they can work.
“We don’t want to campaign in the old fashioned manner; we want to go around on the ground and get into personal relationships with students, so that, when we leave, people must say: ‘Yes! This UGSS thing, I realise why I pay my $750 contribution’,” he asserted.

FAVOURABLE RESPONSE
Rambarran said, so far, they have been receiving favourable response from students because theirs is a much more effective method and he believes that what will make him and his 21 council members successful is the inter-personal relationship they are trying to foster.
He stated that other persons can also come on board since the fact that they are not members of council does not mean they are not a part of this quest.
Rambarran said the fact that he is a final year student and will leave the university soon supports the point that they are creating a “platform for progress” and trying to set continuity.
He said, when they set the platform, they want to advance things and even if there are members in first year, second or third year who have not been seated on this council, those persons can still come on board and campaign and the party will be handed down to them.
The UGSS elections will be held on September 25 for the students on the Turkeyen Campus; September 27 for the masters/students and on September 28 for those at Tain Campus in Berbice.