A Childhood Dream: Experiences of a Vice-Chancellor in Papua New Guinea (1)

Introduction & Background

It has been an extraordinary privilege for me to serve two terms, a total of more than 6 years as Vice Chancellor of the Papua New Guinea University of Technology (PNGUoT also sometimes UNITECH), and this is my story.

The title of this blog post is somewhat ironic because nobody can ever imagine becoming a Vice-Chancellor or University President in Papua New Guinea as a child. It can not be anybody’s childhood dream, although it could have been mine.

While still very young, I noticed how Universities, such as those where my parents worked, were so badly managed. Therefore, in 2003 I made it my mission in life to improve this sad state of affairs, by providing transformational leadership and effective management.

Visiting home in the Italian snowy mountains, before taking off to PNG.

The reconstruction of the story of my experiences in PNG is based on my 280+ blog posts published earlier, and other publicly accessible materials, which readers can consult if they are interested in details.

While writing down these experiences today, I am preparing a book proposal about the future of higher education in developing countries, which is not exclusively based on my PNG experience, but also on my broader readings plus working and living in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean.

In 2018, I happily went back to my old trade as a professor teaching hybrid and online history and research methods at the University of Maryland Global Campus, being happy and being grateful each day to have escaped with my life and health from the cesspool of crime, greed, spite, and mediocrity which the management and senior staff of UNITECH have created for themselves.

As happened in the past with all of my white predecessors at UNITECH, and colleagues and friends like Vice-Chancellor John Warren of UNRE, and Doctor John Nesbitt at Angau hospital, those who come genuinely to serve and live in the community, we became subject of a whisper campaign, and political with hunts, and left the country either penniless or in a coffin. 

None of this would have happened if the Director-General of the Office of Higher Education, David Kavanamur, had not decided to establish government control over the public universities through the infamous Higher Education Act of 2014. He justified this by saying the "boycott culture" had to end and PNG universities needed "strong medicine" for at least 10 years, creating a Chinese Communist Party, and not a Western model university system. With this, university autonomy and academic freedom in PNG effectively ended, hence Kavanamur's nickname of "the destructor general of higher education." The late Chief Secretary Manasupe Zuerenoc, one of the few true and honest civil servants, tried to stop him but to no avail.

Although my experiences in PNG were "mixed" to use a common euphemism, it has been a great experience to serve the courageous students of the  Papua New Guinea University of Technology (PNGUoT). I am proud of my accomplishments and believe I made the learning experience at the PNGUoT considerably better. On the other hand, if I had worked with some government support, a  more effective executive team, and more honest university staff, we could have achieved much more.

In the coming weeks, I will post 6 more articles of 2,500 words, with each article identifying one or more "change heroes", and a few villains as well. After all, the current UNITECH management and Council's only purpose is to let 6 years pass of the statute of limitations so that Misty Baloiloi and his gang of thugs can no longer be prosecuted. In the beginning, however, Chancellor Nagora Bogan pressed for starting prosecution. He told me he had had a meeting with Minister Charles Abel, expressing concern that Misty Baloiloi had been appointed as the  Minister's chief advisor, saying:  "Doesn't it bother you that your Chief Advisor will soon be criminally charged?". In face of the unwillingness of Minister Abel to take any action,  Nagora Bogan chose the side of complicity, helping to cover up for the crimes of the old Council. Later he was instrumental in pushing me out and giving jobs to people connected to the government.

Now that all frivolous and vexatious legal action in my regard has been dismissed for lack of the accusers in over 6 years to present any evidence, it is time to open up about them and serve them some of their own medicine. Thie legal action was instigated by one of the principal enforcers of the O'Neill mafia, the disbarred lawyer Ralph Saulep, "the master of disaster" and Pro-Chancellor of the PNGUoT when Baloiloi was Vice-Chancellor. He was involved in harassing opposition members, civil society groups, journalists, and academics. For those who did not get the memo: my separation from UNITECH had nothing to do with my record of performance or false allegation about academic credentials.
 
When I took over at UNITECH, the university could best be described as a joint criminal enterprise. Key-figures were the Chancellor Phillip Stagg, the Pro-Chancellor Ralph Saulep, the Vice-Chancellor Misty Baloiloi and the Registrar the late Alan Sako. Another infamous criminal with links to international terrorism was Rex Paki, whose exploits were later described in The Guardian, the international newspaper based in the UK.

The crimes of the old management and Council are public knowledge in PNG, and were highlighted in the Sengi investigation as well as the Sevua Report, the official investigation by the government of PNG. The Sengi investigation revealed a cheque of over K675,000 from the PIP funds was misappropriated and the proceeds were probably split up among Council members. The Sevua Report revealed the unwillingness of the Council to hold the former management accountable, and numerous irregularities in its proceedings, which subsequently were never addressed. What is more astounding than the acts of the criminals themselves, is those who keep covering up for them.

All efforts to start a prosecution based on massive prima facie evidence were thwarted by a dishonest Registrar Veronica Thomas and her crew of eternal staff members (Naomi Wilkins, Anna Wakana and Nancy Laena, among others), and by Misty Baloiloi himself, who happened to be trusted advisor to Charles Abel, the deputy PM in the O'Neill government. UNITECH staff refused to sign their statements and affidavits, and Chancellor Nagora Bogan never pushed the issue although he knew Peter O'Neill was protecting Misty Baloiloi, and all the other crooks.

During my 24+ years of academic career in Europe and Latin America, I was never directly confronted with the criminal actions of key individuals. I was not prepared for it, and in the end, I did not have the tools to defend myself from their whisper campaigns, political persecution, and police harassment.

The following articles are all dedicated to all those other Papua New Guineans who shared my vision for a better university and a better country. They were not following orders from anyone, least of all from me, but rather showed courage, wisdom, and leadership. Some of their names are unknown, and some are still struggling, having been sidelined by the current regime. Conversely, those who sold out to the corrupt leaders during the fantastically corrupt and obscurantist era of the Peter O'Neill government received houses, cars, and positions.

Here are the provisional titles:
Part 2 - Employable Graduates
Part 3 - The Student Movement
Part 4 - The Staff Organizations
Part 5 - The Opportunity Cost of Navel Gazing

My goal is to present an unfiltered version of my experiences to the new generations of Papua New Guineans, so that they can insight how the governance of state institutions in the country has deteriorated, and take courage and inspiration from those change heroes, who occasionally stand up hoping to bring better education, health, and prosperity to the population.

I dedicate this series to my parents, who taught me to always do the right thing, and try to make a difference. My family also made me sensitive to diversity and inclusion issues. My wife, who is from Kenya, who stood by me every step of the way. My mother is an Italian migrant, and her family lost all their property when their house in Milan was bombed on 24 October 1943. My father was the first one in the family to graduate from university, and whose father was the first one to leave farming. My late father was always brutally honest and instilled in me a strong aversion to colonialism and a sense that international cooperation is the only hope for mankind. To all, they made me what I am today.

Furthermore, I continue to commit my efforts to the good people of Busamang village, who during my stay in PNG were the only ones who gave me a sense of normality and cheer, despite their own tremendous daily struggles. Like so many villages in PNG, they have been completely left to their own devices since independence. Finally, to all my dear friends and family in PNG, especially those who passed: the late Mairen Manub, who passed away too young in 2019, and the late Associate Professor Dr. Larry Orsak of the PNGUoT Forestry Department, with whom I engineered my return in 2014, and who led the way for me to become part of the PNGUoT community and PNG society.

Years of Preparation

Before starting in my role as Vice-Chancellor, I thought I had come well prepared. I had served in executive positions at leading universities in the Netherlands and had carried responsibility for budgets of over $40 million, and several graduate programs. I had read most principal studies and reports about the country. I spoke to other European who served in-country for many years. In addition, I was given 6 months of executive coaching from Right Management by my employer in Europe to prepare for the VC role, which meant I had an outline of a 5-year work plan ready before I came.

The reality, however, was harsher than anyone can imagine. I remember well I had planned 3 weeks to give the University proper internet access, which in the end took almost 3 years. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for what transpired in the 6 years I served as VC.

My academic career began in 1994 after obtaining my doctorate at the renowned European University Institute, in Florence Italy. This institute was established by an international treaty among the EU's founding members, and only accepts doctoral students. For this reason, it is not listed in any university ranking, which caused a lot of confusion among some people in PNG.

In younger days: obtained my doctorate 30-years old

In 2012, I had served already 12+ years in developing countries and lived in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Turks and Caicos Islands. I had made it my mission to serve those underprivileged and excluded learners, who find it challenging to go to University because of the inadequacies of the primary and secondary school systems in their countries,

Since 2006, I had decided to become a higher education executive and first served as Pro Vice-Chancellor Academic and International Affairs at Zuyd University's Maastricht Hotel Management School and then as Development and Research Funding Director at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. In both these roles, I was accountable to a board or council, and I learned much about university governance.

Taking over as Vice-Chancellor 7 February 2012

When coming from abroad and having worked for world-class universities, my plans were over-ambitious. I had just spent 7.5 years at world-class European universities as a researcher and an executive, so I came to my role with a lot of new projects.

Some of the obstacles I encountered in carrying out my plans, therefore, were to be expected. In PNG, the multiple attempts to deport or arrest me, the disloyalty, disobedience, and fierce resistance of some University staff, and the two-faced nature of the team members, however, were totally uncalled for, and could never have been foreseen. What does not kill you, makes you stronger.

I visited the country for the first time in June 2011. On 7 June 2011, I  remember giving a presentation for Council, staff, and students on the fact that Universities often lose focus on their students. While requiring transformational leadership, most universities choose transactional leaders, who keep all stakeholders nicely in balance, basically by buying them off with promises or favours. For me, it was clear the PNGUoT needed strong, transformative leadership, in order to be given a new lease of life.

Although it took more than 6 months to come to a decision, I believe my selection as Vice-Chancellor was the result of a compromise. There were at least 3 PNGean professors, who all believe they deserved to be Vice-Chancellor. In addition, there was an Indian-American Narayan Gehlot with a narcissistic personality disorder, who had bribed his way into becoming a professor, and was proceeding along the same path. Mr. Gehlot had probably committed identity theft which in the USA is rather easy, while in Europe nearly impossible.

Since nobody wanted him, and the choice between the three professors would have been awkward, I became a compromise candidate. Part of the reasoning was that they assumed that "surely" I had a substantive position in Europe, so that if former Chancellor Phillip Stagg, Vice-Chancellor Misty Baloiloi, and Registrar Alan Sako would lose the elections, it would be easy to make me flee the country and force me to go home. The Pro-Chancellor Ralph Saulep was not running for elections, but he played a key role in orchestrating all this. He has been in the service of various politicians and was my principal accuser. Despite my smiley exterior, however, I proved to be a much tougher nut to crack.

I took over as Vice-Chancellor of the Papua New Guinea University of Technology on 7 February 2012, having visited the campus only once. I had seen the generally dilapidated state of the buildings, the library and the laboratories, the overall neglect of the campus, and the bars in the departments keeping the students from interacting normally with the staff. I had asked students and staff questions and listened attentively to their answers.

In my communications with the previous Vice-Chancellor Misty Baloiloi and Registrar Alan Sako, I had noticed that my predecessor, who had been Vice-Chancellor for 19 years, had no vision nor a plan. It was hardly surprising he had been unable to provide any leadership. Misty Baloiloi was running for elections in his district and the first thing he did was to try to get a 3-month "retainer". I declined, saying we no longer required his services, which he had not offered to begin with.

All contracts signed by Misty Baloiloi administration proved to be crooked. I called them con-tracts. Another scam was a deal he made with his Assembly of God Church for almost K1 million per year to rent dormitory space off-campus, about 5 km away. This arrangement was completely unworkable, since the rooms were inadequate, and an additional K1 million had to be spent ferrying the students up and down. Transport was always delayed and students would arrive late for classes, and what is worse for breakfast. We invested in bunk beds and got all students back onto campus.

The Registrar at the time, the late Alan Sako was generally more effective than the VC who spent most of his time in Port Moresby. Mr. Sako, however, behaved like an uneducated mafia-type, and proved to be totally untrustworthy. The letter he drafted for my appointment, for example, was poorly written and incomprehensible. He loved to rule by fear, and his underlings liked to copy his intimidation techniques. The Deputy Registrar, Mr. Jephta Girinde, for example, once managed to fire an unsuspecting nurse, who had done nothing wrong, in a public space in the middle of campus.

Mr. Sako had made a contract with KEC electrical for K75,000 per month to give maintenance to 75 A/C units. For K1,000 per month, I considered this overpriced and canceled the contract. In fact, Mr. Sako managed to fund his political campaign in this manner. Later KEC managed to win the court case and demanded damages, so this information is already public.

There was a widely known scam with university vehicles, which forced me to buy a new vehicle every month. I refused. Mr. Sako had put two fake mechanics in the workshop, who would declare each vehicle a total loss so that it could be auctioned off to their wantoks.

Another scam we discovered much later was that a few maintenance crew after each repair would sabotage the compressor of the main A/C units, and then order a new one. They would sell the compressor in town. It went on and on, a million ways to steal, with the university management and Council leading by example.

On the day I took over on 7 February 2012, it was the first time I addressed the whole PNGUoT community on 13 February. Before me spoke Chancellor Phillip Stagg. I did not know then that he had been dismissed in 2009 by the then Minister of Higher Education Don Polye, and even had been kidnapped by the students, but he had taken out a court injunction - which had since been set aside. He stubbornly clung on to his seat and considered it his life-long entitlement.

Mr. Stagg rambled on half in Tok Pidgin  (which I did not understand at the time) and half in English. He was kind of apologizing for the sad state of the facilities, blaming the government for never sending enough funds. In truth, of course, there was massive misappropriation taking place, in particular from the infrastructure (so-called PIP) budget, but also from the payroll. In fact, in 2017 when finally proper financial controls were put in place, we managed to save over K2M annually or about 20% of the operational budget, and balance the budget.

At some point, during the hand-over take-over ceremony, Mr. Stagg said that the PNGUoT was like a big, leaky ship and that they all had to try not to make it sink. I guess he had the ferry disaster in mind. I found it appallingly bad taste, and also the wrong message to give to young students. When I took the floor, I said that if students and staff worked together, the PNGUoT was not like a leaky ship, but rather like an airplane. Together we could make it fly! The famous 2012 SRC president, Joe Kaowai, who spoke after me, liked the metaphor, and from then on, the motto "I make UNITECH fly" became popular.

Another memorable moment was when I told the students that after graduation they would encounter global competition in the workplace. Their degrees, therefore, needed to be internationally recognized. I told the story of how Indian students sleep only 4 hours per night. A few weeks later one UNITECH one student told me he had tried it, and it worked. I warned him to get enough sleep.

From the outset, I felt that most UNITECH staff were lying to me, or at least hiding the truth. My response was to tell them that I would not lie to them because I was too busy to be able to remember different versions of the same story, and who I told what. I also told my staff they should not lie to me, because in the end, people will tell the VC everything. This might have had a short-term effect, but eventually lying is so easy, and if there are no immediate consequences people think they can get away with it.

With the students, there was an immediate understanding. Their priorities were first to get better lecturers, fully qualified - with a doctorate - and preferably work experience at a world-class university. They also wanted a better learning environment, and wanted the wastage and stealing to stop. They also considered a University Council with 32 members way too large and a huge waste of money. I considered these requests quite reasonable and put them on top of my to-do list. Coincidentally, this was the same agenda that the Independent Review of the PNG University System (IRUS - Namaliu/Garnaut Report), commissioned by the Somare and Rudd Government in PNG and Australia respectively had recommended.

In order to attract better Faculty, an international search had to be conducted, since many qualified PNGeans leave the country for studies, never to return again. For these new Faculty members, an adequate living and working environment had to be provided. We proceeded immediately to build 23 new staff houses. In my absence in 2013, however, the "forever" staff managed to move into these houses.

We also prioritized getting a better internet connection and the revamping of the network. The whole university had a bandwidth of 10 MB/s through a small V-Sat dish. Later we managed to open a new satellite station with the O3B system, which is a temporary solution waiting for Lae to get a reliable fiber connection. Though I worked with 3 Chancellors and 7 Minister of Higher Education, it was Hon. Malakai Tabar who most stood out in his support for the transformation of PNG universities, is seen here opening the O3B installation.

Let me close with two nice memories. During my selection procedure in June 2011, Dr. William Tagis was the Director-General of Higher Education. Although the challenges he faced were insurmountable, he was someone who never gave up. He asked if you were selected as Vice-Chancellor, would you be "there". He already had had a stroke and his speech was not completely clear, so I asked him what he meant. He said: "Will you walk around?". I promised him I would be present and walk around, and so I did. All rumours that I was never on campus are greatly exaggerated. In fact, each year I was off-campus an average of 70 workdays including my annual leave, and never missed a Council meeting and chaired an average of 60 committee meetings per year. You can't do that if you are away.

In fact, later with all my deputies, we had weekly "walk-around" turns, which were extremely illuminating for them, since they tended to sit in their offices and send email all day, without understanding much of what was happening around them. Personally, I always made a point to inspect the dining hall on the weekend and make sure the students would get something nice like chicken or ice cream on Sundays.

The other nice UNITECH memory that stands out is the 2014 graduation after the SRC President Eddie Nagual had led a 5 weeks boycott to allow me to return to my post from my exile in Australia. The pride and energy of the families and the tribes who supported the students was palpable. Many students dress in traditional attire, which makes the whole event uniquely colourful.

The 2014 graduation with SRC President Eddy Nagual to my left

In the following part, I will elaborate on these themes, and briefly recount the students' efforts to turn UNITECH from a joint criminal enterprise conferring fake degrees into a rule-based, and efficiently run University producing employable and competent graduates. I worked very hard, and at least I tried.