Guyana’s president laments Haiti, lauds The UWI

NEW YORK, NY:

President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and chairman of CARICOM, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, has again called on the world community to help the people of Haiti.

Addressing an awards function put on by The American Foundation of The University of the West Indies (AFUWI), in Manhattan, New York on Thursday, April 18, Ali noted that the Caribbean cannot ignore the realities of the people of Haiti. “They have suffered for too long, and too little has been done by too many of us,” he said.

“Only recently I looked at the shocking reality of resources being allocated, and justifiable so, to the people of Ukraine. But the question is, where is the urgency for the people of Haiti?” Ali lamented.

“In our region we’ve always had the moral standing to be on the right side of history, and we must never allow any circumstance, or change in conditions to change the way we approach situations, regionally and globally,” he said.

Turning to The University of the West Indies, which honoured him on Thursday night, President Ali said Vice Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles and his team must be complimented.

He said too often people quote reports that are extra regional, when those very studies and reports are available at The University of the West Indies. “I believe we must value more who we are and value more what we produce and utilise more what we own, The University of the West Indies,” the Guyana president declared.

He said it was in light of this that as the government of Guyana aims to build a world-class education and health-care system, it decided to incorporate The University of the West Indies Medical School with the first level-five hospital that will be built.

Ali also lauded the regional university for leading the charge in the area of reparatory justice. He thanked the Centre for Reparation Research at The University of the West Indies led by Professor Beckles, which has been conducting research into the legacies of the transatlantic trade in Africans and European colonialism, in the hopes of bringing transformational justice.

He said the work of The UWI has led to a number of apologies. “But apologies must be natural and we must move from that to full reparatory justice,” Dr. Ali maintained.

“It is The University of the West Indies that must lead us. We must show that we have the indigenous academic firepower to battle this and win this for ourselves. We cannot rely on external consultants to do this for us.”

He thanked The University of the West Indies for their initiative under the GOAL scholarship programme where over the past three years, “we have over 345 programmes from 19 universities. More that 30,000 students are on this programme in just three and a half years, 75 per cent of whom are women,” he said.

He said, “in the past three years, 2229 graduates came from The University of the West Indies programme. This includes 119 graduate programmes, and currently there are 659 students enrolled for The University of the West Indies programmes. This is testimony to partnership,” Ali said.

RANKED NUMBER ONE

The Guyana president observed further that the CARICOM“region should find innovative ways in which we can help The University of the West Indies by incentivising studying at that institution. This could be done through the taxation system; support to the corporate sector; write-offs and bringing in more of the education fund as deductibles. These are things that I think could help to stimulate more entry into The University of the West Indies and more support for West Indian students,” Ali concluded.

In his remarks, Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles expressed pride that The University of the West Indies was ranked the number-one university in the Caribbean, and has also maintained its status in the top-one-per-cent of the 2000 universities in Latin America and the Caribbean. He said The UWI was also in the top-three per cent of the finest universities in the world.

Despite its ranking, however, Professor Beckles said The UWI was not an elite university. “Rather it is an institution for the public good, a university that is focused on uplifting the poor and dispossessed. It stands behind all of those who have been disfranchised; it is committed to justice and equality for all and it is in every sense an ethical enterprise.”

Professor Beckles congratulated the awardees, as well as Executive Director of The AFUWI Ann Marie Grant who raises funds through the gala annually to assist needy students.

The event also honoured seven distinguished personalities who have made their mark in various fields, from governance and technology to law, business development, and community service.

They include Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali as the ninth president of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and the current chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM); Don Christian, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP with a remarkable 35-year career in technology, aerospace, and defence; attorney-at-law Darren Skinner, a partner at the Washington, D.C. office of Arnold & Porter; Antony Mark Desnoes Hart, executive chairman of the Montego Bay-based Caribbean Producers Jamaica Ltd; Michele Chow-Tai, managing director of business development at Fairview Capital Partners; and Reverend Patrick Perrin, who, from Jamaica to New York, has dedicated his life to guiding youths towards a brighter future.