Piloting UWI, Mona and Port Authority - Not positions for a temp! Pt 2

Wilberne Persaud, Financial Gleaner Columnist

Last week's column mentioned the fact that "the colonial West Indian's commitment to education was legendary". Judging from my email inbox going abuzz with responses from as far away as Singapore and Geneva, that commitment survives.

I think readers will find some of the responses interesting. The first correspondent, Laurie Foster, said the column "excited my deep interest, as I was attracted, almost like a magnet, to the under-mentioned excerpt: 'Any West Indian knows of peasant market women like the bone-thin elderly woman in the Duncans market in Trelawny, who, week after week, year after year, out of her meagre earnings sent her son Amos Foster to Scotland as a medical student and kept him there until he qualified and returned home'.

"I felt a sense of effervescent pride and satisfaction which made me quite emotional, given that the Dr Amos Foster (1893-1984) mentioned, is my late father. The 'bone-thin elderly woman', was Druscilla. With this most welcomed inspiration, I, on behalf of his other children, including the esteemed philanthropic cardiologist, Dr William, take this medium to express my sincere gratitude and boundless appreciation for bringing this into public focus. Too often, matters of this historic significance are hidden from our people."

what about the public?

Another touches critically important questions on the issue. It reads: "I saw your Gleaner column of today on piloting UWI and the Port Authority. Interesting points, timely, and needed to be said. I was myself rather bewildered when I saw the announcement concerning the principal. It surely is a matter on which some debate should be welcomed.

"Given the critical importance of the institution, as you point out, the development plans now ongoing, the very serious problems now facing the school at all levels, and what was expected of a relatively new principal, it does seem weird - and I use this term deliberately - to suddenly read that the recently appointed head of the campus was temporarily leaving his job to run the Port Authority, as if something like this is an everyday occurrence!

"Should the public not be better informed? Should not the VC say something about it? Has the job been done, or not done? Has the Port Authority become a much more urgent and higher ranking priority? If so, should not the public be assured of the suitability of the appointee for this job? Can either of these jobs really be done by temp appointments, as you rightly pose? Should question marks now be raised about the selection process, and those responsible for these decisions?

"Of course, this is not the first time in recent years that one has felt the need for greater transparency in these matters. Maybe it is that from this distance I am simply not close enough to the facts."

This correspondent writes from New York raising issues that stand on their own. I need make no comment except to say many people are concerned, sharing the sentiments expressed, and they are indeed, all relevant. Decisions affecting major institutions, the lives and future prospects of our population ought not to be taken lightly.

In a democracy, we entrust such tasks to elected politicians and appointed officials. We carry the hope that they shall take decisions in the best interest of the nation and the population at large. The Port Authority is a national, whereas The University of the West Indies is both a national and regional issue - much is at stake. The question to be answered is: are these decisions rooted in clear understanding of the best interests of the institutions and the society at large?

Corrections and a suggestion: It took 400 years for tertiary education to be introduced to the Commonwealth - former British Colonies - not the entire Caribbean. Spain founded universities in her colonies much earlier, in the 1500s.

Irving should read Irvine. The committee that recommended establishing University College of the West Indies was headed by Sir James Irvine. The report is known as the Irvine Report. Irvine Hall of residence is named in his honour.

Late Professor Douglas Hall's The University of the West Indies: A Quinquagenary Calendar 1948-1998 provides a rewarding read and insight into complexities surrounding the UWI over the years.

Wilberne Persaud, an economist, currently works on impacts of technology change on business and society, including capital solutions for innovative Caribbean SMEs. Send feedback to wilbe65@yahoo.com