"We think of politics in terms of power and who has the power. Politics is the end to which that power is put." (Ngugi wa Thiong'o, famous Kenyan - Kikuyu writer)
Previous blog posts in this series:
Part 1 - A Childhood Dream. Experiences of a Vice Chancellor in Papua New Guinea (1)
Part 2 - Employable Graduates. Experiences of a Vice Chancellor in Papua New Guinea (2)
Part 3 - The Student Movement. Experiences of a Vice Chancellor in Papua New Guinea (3)
Part 4 - The Staff Organizations. Experiences of a Vice Chancellor in Papua New Guinea (4)
Part 5- The Opportunity Costs of Navel Gazing. Experiences of a Vice Chancellor in Papua New Guinea (5)
PNG Attitude Postings
- 5 October 2019: There cannot be peace without justice
- 4 October 2019: PNG’s odd racialised post-colonial morality
- 3 October 2019: Delusional O’Neill's calamitous legacy
- 4 September 2019: Corruption, maladministration; & students who can be cleansers
- 14 August 2019: No heroes these wasted years: memoirs of a vice chancellor
- 15 June 2019: Dear Hon James Marape, I make a plea for an innocent man
- 30 March 2018: Morobe leaders call on govt to retain Schram as Unitech head
- 25 March 2014: Leak of Sevua investigation confirms Dr Schram’s innocence
Background
I want to thank my 7,000+ followers on twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for their encouraging comments on this series, and Keith Jackson for publishing the short versions. Many of my followers are students, sponsors or relatives of students, or among the 6,000+ graduates of which I signed their degrees. Thank you all.More and more, I am convinced eventually the PNG University of Technology will eventually be transformed from a joint criminal organization, and a cesspit of greed, spite and mediocrity (as described in earlier episodes), into a true university delivering highly competent and employable graduates. It is up to us to decide whether we want this sooner, or rather in say a decade, when all current protagonists probably have passed on given their age and bad health.
Before describing my experience with the university staff organization, I will make a few remarks on the economic and moral environment in which PNG universities operate. The disastrous state of the economy since Peter O'Neil took over in 2012, stimulated dishonest and opportunistic behaviour. Dishonesty in turn was further justified by exceptionalist 'logic', and the fundamental difficulty many PNGeans have that everybody is equal before the law, and rules should be applied to everyone without exception. The tribal "wantok" system seems the only system that works, and it is what many people are still most comfortable with.
Since 2012, continuing misgovernment, thievery and wasteful spending put a terrible stress on society due to Peter O'Neill's callous and delusional economic policies, which only produced exclusive benefits for his cronies in Port Moresby. In 2014, for example, in some areas in the highlands there was a fully fledged famine, and at some point the World Food Program was supporting over 250,000 people with food aid. The non-payment of LNG revenues to landowners by the government, has led to a continuing civil war in Hela and Southern Highland provinces, which ironically are the provinces where the current and previous Prime Minister hail from. For UNITECH where over 50% of students are from the highlands this created a difficult operating environment. Many parents and sponsors were unable to pay the "skul fee" on time.
For a fair assessment of the failed economic policies of the O'Neill years, the renowned development economist Prof. Stephen Howes from Australian National University wrote a non-technical summary article. Below illustrated the disastrous effect of Peter O'Neill's economic policy as reflected in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth figure for non-resource sector, illustrated All families and all UNITECH students felt this pain, and always a bad time for graduates to hit the job market.
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| PNG Non-Resource Economic Growth 2008 to 2023 (projections) |
However, worse news is yet to come. The excessive deficit can be addressed relatively quickly by controlling expenses and improving tax collection. It will be painful, but it can be corrected within a few years. The real issue is the ballooning debt, a result of Peter' Neill running high deficits year after year, and embarking on some disastrous projects such as Pacific Games, APEC and the Oil Search share.
For those with short memories, Pacific Games was not a huge success for PNG state finances: over K1,000 million were spent on inflated building contracts with kickbacks for Peter O'Neill's associations. The same thing happened again with APEC, a forum which has long lost its diplomatic importance. The APEC meeting was to flatter PNG's new paymasters from the middle kingdom, and even that failed since no final declaration was issued, and there tangible benefits of APEC never materialized, and in any case would be dwarfed by the enormous debt (and unused Masertati's) the meeting left. Pacific Games and APEC were all about the contracts, or rather the kickbacks, in case you were wondering what their point was.
Finally, the Oil Search debacle has not led to the state taking a share in the LNG projects, but rather again a loss of again over K1,000 million. It is pathetic that there are still people who believe the O'Neill propaganda around these 3 sad episodes, and want to be taken seriously. Might makes not right, and people can not distort reality to suit their own unfounded believes. Only by acknowledging the facts can the country avoid to fall prey to a predatory and autocratic regime as the one Peter O'Neill was almost able to maintain indefinetely.
The O'Neill Administration took out high interest loans from international loan sharks, rather than from the United Nations (IMF), burdening generations to come with debt enormous repayment. The reason is that the UN poses some conditions, such as presenting truthful account. The efforts of the current Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey to work with the IMF to establish the facts first and get a complete audit done are a step in the right direction.
In the coming weeks, the total extent of the debt and interest payments will become clear, and it is doubtful whether the country can avoid defaulting on its debt payment. A Latin American 1980s style debt default and crash is far from imaginary.
We must remember however how many people rode on the Peter O'Neill's gravy train. In fact, the Chancellor and all members of the University Councils were appointed by him, serving as recipients of political patronage and being offered an opportunity for private rent seeking. Though most in this group, so far have refrained from diverting University funds directly into their own pocket, they have done themselves and their relatives other favours. The Chancellor Kekedo accepted medical treatment abroad, for example, and so has the current Vice Chancellor for his sick daughter, who has breast cancer. Ironically, his uncle who was Minister of Health did nothing to restore the radiology ward in PNG, and still nobody receives essential radiotherapy as part of cancer treatment in PNG. The list goes on.
PNGs Odd Racialized Post Colonial Morality
People have asked me if standing up against corruption and speaking truth to power was difficult. For me it never was. We all know what is right and what is wrong.After 150+ years of Christian preaching PNGeans have gotten the message too: people must realise that in order to live in peace certain moral absolutes must be obeyed. Murdering is wrong. Stealing is wrong. Lying is wrong. Essential part of what is commonly called the 10 commandments. Not so hard to remember. We have two eyes to see, two ears to hear, and we can easily distinguish right from wrong. No reasons to get confused between right and wrong.
Nevertheless, obeying these basic rules is proves challenging for many in the UNITECH community. Transgressions somehow become acceptable if the victim is from another group. So lying to the white man, stealing from the white man, - because in post-colonial envy fuelled thinking all white people have enjoyed "white privilege" - is OK, and widely practised. Murdering the white man is a bit risky because there may be consequences imposed by foreign powers. So many people would tell me what they thought I wanted to hear, just to turn around and tell a completely different story.
The willingness to overlook transgressions or even crimes by high-status individuals in PNG is mind boggling, and part of what is called the "big man" mentality. Earlier I wrote, how the internal Sengi investigation, for example, revealed how the previous Vice Chancellor Misty Baloiloi wrote a personal cheque to Mr. Gehlot - an Indian-American conman - from the infrastructure funds for about K675,000. This same episode was again brought to light by the official Sevua Investigation, which lasted over 6 months and brought to light numerous criminal acts by the former University Council. As I wrote earlier, the current University Council and management are actively engaged in covering up all those crimes, and make sure nobody gets indicted. Instead they persecuted innocent students or inconvenient foreign academics.
According to police investigations, there was enough prima facie direct evidence to indict him. Subsequentely, however, the Registrar Mrs. Thomas, Naomi Wilkins and others refused to sign their sworn affidavits thus successfully thwarting the indictment, until after 6 years the crime hit its statute of limitation. The oddest thing is that after I took over as Vice Chancellor, Misty Baloiloi was hired as advisor by Minister Charles Abel, who seemed entirely unconcerned that his advisor may be arrested at any moment. Big man mentality.
As a result, of the twisted morality that goes with the tribal "wantok" system, in PNG I could never trust anyone not to lie or steal. I told people often not to lie to me, or steal from me or the University, because I would find out, but this did not seem to have much impact. In fact, in the end I was betrayed by all my senior staff and "dear colleagues", and was defrauded losing over half the salary to which I was legally entitled. When the consultant finally presented his findings to Council - after the current Vice Chancellor Ora Renagi delayed the process as much as he could - , he said I had been "grossly underpaid". The consultants words, not mine.
Most of my personal savings I made since 2014 were stolen by a cabal of extortionate lawyers in Port Moresby, so that I could stay out of jail and eventually flee the country. During my exile in 2013-4, I lost most of my inheritance, and subsequently in the first months of 2018 I lost most of what I had earned and saved. My family was financially ruined, and it will take me years if ever to get out of this hole.
For a foreigner it is challenging to bring about change in PNG, to make a difference, or to transform PNG institutions so that it can fulfil their intended missions, instead of exclusively serving the interests of a small group. As a result, I am proud of my achievements during my two terms as Vice Chancellor, which however could only be done while the politicians stayed out of my hair, and senior staff was too scared to betray, rebel and conspire, as they did later.
To be fair, for a PNGean it is even harder to bring about positive change, however, since he or she will inevitably be accused of nepotism, favouritism or tribalism ('wantokism'). The ensuing infighting, not bound by any rule of decency, reputation or credibility, will paralyse the institutions, and all positive changes will be reversed. It is a real dilemma.
If you have a foreigner who genuinely comes to help, works in a team shoulder to shoulder, is willing to share his know-how and international network, and treats everybody with respect, don't viciously attack him or her out of spite and envy. Personally, I did nothing to deserve such a treatment, nor did my family deserve so much suffering. Chancellor Kekedo, Registrar Thomas, DVC Renagi and Council Sam Koim in their self-righteous, post-colonial anger did not seem to think so, and unhesitatingly and unapologetically threw me under the bus. Now that their bluff has been called, we did not even received an apology.
Staff and Students as Driving Forces for Change, or Not?
Regrettably, universities in PNG are strongly politicised, and worse so since the government through the Higher Education Act of 2014 took the power to appoint Vice Chancellor and Chancellor. In fact, I was the last Vice Chancellor independently appointed by a University council.Politics not in the sense of any principle based disagreements, but exclusively about who support who. The petty politics of inflated male ego's trumps any disagreement of principles or purpose. At University level, competence is seen as a threat, servility and obedience to political masters is key.
Here is a list of major unrest at UNITECH over the last 10+ years:
- 2007 Strike by NASA and violent repression by the police task force, leading to budget deficit due to excessive expenses for police allowances. Class boycott. Students kidnap Chancellor Stagg. Rule by fear.
- 2011: Student shot dead by security guards, working for the repressive management of VIce Chancellor Misty Baloiloi. More rule by fear.
- 2012: Class boycott against arbitrary dismissal of Vice Chancellor Schram. Burning of vehicle of Chancellor Stagg.
- 2013: Class boycott. 6 months Sevua Investigation officially establishes allegations against Schram are without basis, and he had been lawfully appointed.
- 2014: Successful class boycot for establishing accountable and transparent governance. New Council installed and Vice Chancellor Schram returns from exile.
- 2015: Boycott free year. VC Schram open O3B internet installation, 23 new staff houses, sealing of campus roads and other major infrastructure projects. Donations and support from ExxonMobil, Trukai, Newcrest of research funds, GenSet, server, laptops, lab equipment etc.
- 2016: Class boycott demanding Prime Minister O'Neill to submit to the courts after very serious and credible allegations of fraud and misappropiation. After "awareness raising" in home provinces, students start to fight among each other: one seriously wounded, one murdered. 4 buildings lost to arson, among which the dining hall. Nevertheless, we manage to re-open the university on 31 August and finish the academic year.
- 2017: Dismissal of casuals and disobedience, dishonesty and disloyalty of senior staff and management become apparent. No more Indian, European an Australian guest lecturers or visitors. Reversal of academic accreditation process, end of corporate support.
- End of 2017: Clean, unqualified audit obtained and certified by auditor general, K2.2 million or 20% savings on operational expenses. Chancellor Jean Kekedo starts witchhunt against Vice Chancellor Schram with support of Council Sam Koim, Registrar Veronica Thomas and DVC Ora Renagi: false allegations about doctorate from 2012 bizarly revived, VC Schram signs severance agreement after Chancellor Kekedo realises a judicial review of his attempted dismissal is feasible.
- 2018: Schram is unlawfully arrested for "false pretense" concerning his doctorate, when transiting to the country as a tourist. Secretary of DHERST Jan Czuba certifies his doctorate is real. Staying out of jail leads to his financial ruin. Foreign and other head of departments leave UNITECH, and key faculty members are pressured to either serve new masters or leave. UNITECH's reputation lays in tatters, and it is unable to attract fully qualified and experienced staff and lecturers.
Make no mistake, although some sections of staff and student population were actively working against me, it was not the internal forces that lead to my premature separation from UNITECH. Powerful external forces were at play. Some staff members gained traction among members of cabinet, in particular the PM Peter O'Neill, Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari, and the Ministers Foreign Affairs Rimbink Pato, National Planning Richard Maru, and Higher Education Pila Niningi. When a friend intervened on my behalf with them, and called one of these Ministers, there was only hysterical screaming on the other side "Schram has to go". This was later confirmed by a former Council members who said: "Albert there was nothing we could do, the government wanted you out". As we know, it was not only me but also the other European Vice Chancellor John Warren.
At UNITECH, staff is grouped into 3 groups: non-academic, national academics, and foreign academics. Only the National Academic Staff Association has been recognised by the state as an official industrial organization. The students have the Student Representative Council established by the Act of the University, however, this has now been indefnitely suspended. No date for election of SRC executives has been set.
As Vice Chancellor, one of my most important organisational innovations was to create a monthly management forum each last Friday of the month, to have a chance to informally discuss issues, and explain management decisions. This consensus creating forum has now been discontinued.
1-National Staff Association
Non-Academic, or professional support staff, is organized in the National Staff Association (NSA) The non-academic staff face challenges in terms of their ability to organize themselves effectively. Except a few who perform "essential duties" they are forced to live in the settlements. Some of them bathe in the river, where the university discharges its partially treated sewage water. It is a truly shameful situation, but I seemed to be the only to think so. There is no support among senior staff and management to improve their dwellings in any measure.NSA members are object of arbitrary policy decisions, brow beating by the senior staff, and continual harassment by the Registry. During the monthly management forums these abuses clearly came to light. The Registrar Mrs. Veronica Thomas usually refused to come to those meetings, though she was expected to attend.
Many of the officers in the Registry are incompetent, and produce an endless stream of complaints. Some got their own jobs through favouritsm. The current CEO of Accident Investigation Commission, Dean Curry, presented a clear report to Council, outlining how the Registry needs to slim down from 24 employees to 12, and hire competent people. Until recently, in the Registry there was hardly anyone who had enjoyed a form of tertiary education, or had any experience in human resource management outside university. Council has chosen not to follow through on these recommendations.
The Registrar Mrs. Veronica Thomas, a skilled conspirator and fear monger, believes she runs the University, and simply ignores decisions of management or Council. Council in turn is easily misled by her, and fails in its duty of supervision and duty of care.
After the 2014 institutional audit, it became clear that student welfare, and overall security on campus required major overhaul. As a result we had to dismiss the corrupt Dean of Students Ian Leklek, which was a rather straightforward affair. It took however until 2016 before the Registrar was able to make her move. Similarly, the sacking of the corrupt and drunk Chief Security Officer took ages. As soon as this was done, we were able to recruit hard working and more honest replacements. After the violence on campus in 2016 we also commissioned a security review, which made specific recommendations regarding my security. They were never acted upon.
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| First Reserve Police officers trained |
In particular, in the upskilling and reorganization of UNIFORCE led by CSO Alex Warren, we were able to make considerable progress. Again the Registry did everything to frustrate him, and in 2017 even managed to lower the pay for certain categories. Mr. Warren left as soon as he could and UNIFORCE was demoralized. As a result, there is one break and enter attempt each night on campus. Not a good environment to study or live for anyone, and certainly not a place lecturers with experience at world class universities, or from abroad would choose to live.
In fact, in 2017 my conflict with the Registrar came to a head over the Christmas holiday, while I was on an important mission abroad signing beneficial agreements with Australian and Indian institutions, assuring more resource for the University. I was in the habit of sacrificing my Christmas holiday to seal new deals or renew agreements with Australian universities and funding organizations. I also went to India 2 times sponsored by Trukai, signing 12 agreements for UNITECH to receive support in the form of visiting lecturers and scholarship from this country.
Internationalization has been a huge success. In these years, we were able to send 77 faculty members abroad to get higher degrees or receive training abroad, many through the European Erasmus Mundus program. We had one professor from India, and one professor from the University of Sydney, for example, to spend a semester at UNITECH. We had a European professor from the Budapest University ot Technology and Economics (BUTE) as academic assessor. This is the first university of technology and economics in the world, and we signed an agreement with them to continue academic cooperation. After more than 7 years of negotiations, we even managed to become the sole distributor for the famous Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) distance learning programs, a long drawn out process started before I became Vice Chancellor. None of these initiatives are now followed through.
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| First PNG Master - PhD student to India Sardar Patel University |
Over Christmas 2016-7, upon advice of Mrs. Naomi Wilkins - ironically responsible for employee relations -, and Deputy Registrar Nancy Laena, they decided put over 60 casuals off payroll, without even having the decency to notify them in writing. Most of these casuals had been employed for years, far beyond the 3 months legal term. Admittedly, in some departments casuals were used as stop-gaps for lazy or incompetent staff, but in many other departments - such as security - they played a vital role. The personnel established has never been revised, so casuals were needed in those areas where activity had augments since 1975.
When I returned, there were 50 or so very angry casuals and former-employees waiting for me in the parking lot. I met them, and decided to ask them to appoint a representative and invited them for a meeting later in the afternoon in the Council room. At the negotiating table, I found out their demands were completely reasonable, so the problem was quickly solved. They wanted to receive an official notification they would not longer be employed, and until then they wanted to be paid. This problem was so easy to solve, and had been even easier to prevent in the first place.
After this episode I decided that we could not afford to dismiss the Registrar and her staff, but that she herself should no longer be involved in human resource management. It was easier for me to communicate management decision to the deputy registrar responsible for human resources, and give direct instructions. It was clear the Registrar was not loyally carrying out decisions of management, and devised every possible way not to be held fo account by Council.
Subsequently, we organized a meeting with Chancellor Jean Kekedo and Sam Koim, who drafted up an agreement in this sense: Mrs. Thomas would be allowed to finished her EMBA degree, and focus on the tremendous backlog of work relating to the her other responsibilities as Secretary of Council and head of student affairs. I though this was a wise decision in the interest of the University. Regretably, with Kekedo and Koim, unwittingly I let the fox in the hen house. As I wrote earlier, Kekedo is responsible for the debacle caused by slavishly following the instructions of Peter O'Neill and some of his Ministers, pushing out the foreign Vice Chancellors before the APEC meetings, so that other could jump on this gravy train. Even if you are willing to overlook her personal weakness - overt racism, no university degree, unable to express her thought coherently or in writing - viciously attacking an accomplished and honest Vice Chancellor, with a 25+ years international career as an academic and higher education executive, is not only unforgiveably, but most importantly hugely damaging for the PNG university system.
From 2012 to 2019, there was one chance to transform PNG universities from joint criminal enterprises into true universities producing highly competent and employable graduates, and that chance has now disappeared forever. For UNITECH this is the responsibility of Chancellors Nagora Bogan and Jean Kekedo, who willingly allowed its governance to be politicized by Peter O'Neill and his cronies for the purpose of gaining ever more patronage and political control over the university's budgets.
After the unlawful dismissal of the casuals episode, little did I know the Registar and her staff immediately plotted revenge, and started a whisper campaign against me. Although she appeared to support me, the credulous Chancellor Jean Kekedo found it all too convenient to believe these lies without any evidence, or facts to substantiate them. Kekedo was eager push me out, and appoint a more pliable Vice-Chancellor, who is not from the highlands. She has stated her disdain and disapproval for "highlanders" many times in Council, and she seems to loathe them even more than white people. Now UNITECH has to live with the results, and they are already regretting it.
2- National Academic Staff Association
Traditionally, NASA plays a leading role representing all employees of the University. The strike of 2007, however, was violently repressed, and all NASA leaders were summarily dismissed.Despite a large group of forward looking NASA members, who supported the transformation of UNITECH from a joint criminal enterprise into a true university, I knew I could never count on NASA's unconditional support, because it could swing either way. Within NASA there is a large group of academics, who would have preferred the old regime, which had promised to appoint 4 professors per department, no matter what the qualifications or performance. There are also groups who a strongly anti-foreign, and prefer a weak Vice Chancellor they can influence.
Another group has some understanding that his would be ludicrous, but often fails to find a voice. Somewhere they all believe that in a corrupt system of favoritims and wantokism they would be personally better off.
Like all staff NASA members have 3 choices: resign, influence/oppose or play along. To their credit, most decided to try to use their influence and use the management forum and their membership of Council and Academic board to exert their power. This has been key for example when ending the tribal fights on campus in 2016.
Regrettably, when the trumped up allegations against me surfaced again, NASA found it easier to align themselves with Council and the government, although there was not reason. It was forgotten how my administration managed to send 77 of their members abroad to pursue higher degrees or training between 2014 and 2017. The whisper campaign of the Registry evidently had had its effect. As Edmund Burke famously wrote: 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.'
3- Non-Citizen Staff Association
The share of non-citizens faculty is less than 25%. This is relatively low, considering that in most world class universities this is 40+%. At UNITECH there is only one Australian faculty member left, who had the misfortune to marry the dishonest and conniving Mrs. Naomi Wilkins. All Australians left soon after independence, and with academic salaries in Australia being among the highest in the world, they are unlikely to come back. The other Australian passed away 2 years ago.Foreign faculty at UNITECH is mostly from the Indian subcontinent: many Bangladeshi (Muslim), Indians (Hindu and Christians, North and South) and some Pakistani occasionally. At times, they bring their fights across. Many of them use PNG as a springboard for getting a visa for Australia. Most of them are not from world class university, and have never received any training on how to teach. Some have strong accents that making them ineffective as teachers. Some already live in Australia, but are unable to get an academic job there.
Regrettably, most faculty members from the Indian sub-continent are comfortable in an environment with fantastic levels of academic fraud and corruption. Some even act as enablers, and behind the scenes do the writing for the management, or write large parts of their theses. Some of those responsible for budgets even manage to get kick backs from suppliers. The are some really nasty pieces of work among them, and at the same time some of the best professors are from India and Bangladesh.
Most Europeans and Americans are usually put off by the toxic organizational culture, which disregards students academic development and success. They are also unwilling to live with endemic cholera, typhoid, open TB, and mostly the dengue and deadly brain malaria. It is completely incomprehensible, for example, why there is no regular fumigation on campus to reduce the population of mosquitoes and rats.
Another mayor issue is the bad quality of electricity supply and the permanent interruptions. With a company in Cambridge UK I had negotiated a special deal which would allow UNITECH to becomea power producer and would have ended the need to spend so much diesel on GenSet due to dozens of power cuts per day, some lasting several days. Staff also needs decent housing, and access to internet in order to stay in touch with the family. The University is utterly ineffective in addressing these issues, and apparently not even trying.
4- Student Representative Council
Finally, as to the students, they can never be expected to consistently drive positive change. They are students. I have worked with students for over 25 years, and learned how to manage large student groups.The student government changes every year, so it is hard to produce any type of continuity. This is a fundamental characteristic of any true university, where students always play a role in governance.In the past PNG university students had only two real choices: not to finish, or to finish with a worthless fake degree. Some would merely come to university to network, or become student leaders, which is seen as a prelude to a political career. As we said earlier, graduating or not made little difference, since companies were indifferent between hiring university graduates or high school diploma holder, sometimes even preferring the latter.
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| Staff houses built by PNG company PNG Forestry Products |
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| First University with Satellite Intenet |
We made a concerted effort to allow Papua New Guineans to obtain a real, internationally recognized degree, and an opportunity to get a Masters. The competences commonly associated in the country with degree holders, are in fact not part of any Bachelor program, but require a master degree. Masters or Doctorate is not price for long serving faculty, but a necessity for young PNGeans. Since this affected the status system and went against traditional organizational culture, I faced opposition from every corner. If PNG universities ever want to end their continuing dependency on second or third rate foreign faculty, they must allow their own talented graduates to proceed quickly to a Masters and a doctorate.
It is a sad comment on the weakness, futility, and fragility of the current UNITECH management and Council, that they have not put in place any arrangements yet for assure open and democratic elections of student representatives this year or the next. Truly shameful for UNITECH, the first and so far only signatory of the Magna Charta Universitatum principles, which guarantees a role for students in university governance.
Final Remarks: What Next?
Despite the disastrous economic situation in the country while I was Vice Chancellor from 2012 to 2018, and the far from propitious operating environment, we were able to produce many positive changes at the University. As a public sector manager, there are so many worthy investment to choose from, but the trick is to invest strategically and in such a manner that you don't increase the deficit (which should be zero) or increase the debt burden. During my 2 terms as Vice Chancellor I was able to make many useful investments, simply by controlling spending, and stopping wastage. In 2017, for example we were able to reduce operational spending with K2.2 million, or about 20% of the total operational budget.Before becoming Vice Chancellor, I was already an experienced and well-trained higher education executive. I had learned that groups anywhere in the world will behave opportunistically, for example, in my roles as Center Director at the School for Field Studies (USA-TCI) and Academic Director at Zuyd University (Netherlands). I have no illusions about the goodness of human nature.
In describing the actions of my former colleagues in the university council management and senior staff did, , however, I realize with their asinine obstinacy, they took greed, spite and mediocrity to a whole new level. What boggles the mind at UNITECH, is how staff blinded by fear and pressured by politicians, failed to guard for their own long term interest, and let politcally motivated witchhunts and sheer madness take control over the university, to the detriment of their own positions.
As I described earlier, Chancellor Jean Kekedo is functionally illeterate, and a total disgrace. She was only appointed because she has dirt on Peter O'Neill. She is responsible for the perversion of governance and the debacle with the appointment of the Vice Chancellor. Dr. Ora Renagi is a known coward and weakling, never able to take a decision independently, and always agreeing with the last person he spoke with. He is a convenient fool for Kekedo, and enjoys the political protection of Minister Puka Temu, who ironically has been equally ineffective as Peter O'Neill's minister of health. The Registrar Mrs. Veronica Thomas has done untol damage, by lying to Council about my academic credentials and other matters, filing untrue affidavits, and acting repressive and arbitrary manner towards certain groups of highland students.
Now the risk for the UNITECH community is that the Marape government will not accept the dishonesty, monumental incompetence and total ineffectiveness the current university council and management bring to the table, and show in all their actions and highly questionable decisions. Why can't management provide proper internet access? Why are student dining facilities no longer compliant with health and safety regulations? Why is the quality of the food so bad? Why did the UNITECH community not stand up for the long term interest of the university?
How easy for a corrupt Prime Minister to appoint cronies and nincompoops in university Councils and management. Everybody knew Peter O'Neill would probably not even last until the next election in 2022, and in fact he was set aside in 2019 after another crooked deal he did with Total. Despite impossible odds, with Peter O'Neill being removed as Prime Minister by Parliament, we saw democracy triumph for a change.
Making predictions is hard, especially about the future, as someone joked once. It seems clear however, that the cycle of student boycotts and staff strikes has not been broken. An unresponsive and calous university management, and a Council which has only political and personal interests at heart, will enevitably produce more boycotts and strikes. These may or may not lead to a change in the management or Council, as happened in the past.
The alternative scenario would have been so much better for all staff and students. I would have finished my second term as Vice Chancellor, and would have produced the full range benefits stemming from a highly successful internationalization and engagement strategy.
Internally, I would have brought up the healthy elements, and gotten rid of ineffective and dishonest deputies and senior staff. In fact, I was in the process of doing this, but they beat me to it. There would have been a peaceful transition, without court cases and newspaper headlines, and the reputation of the University would have been re-established nationally and internationally. By listening to self-interested voices, and unleashing a witch hunt, everybody looses. Because a few power hungry, greedy and dishonest individuals were afraid to loose their position, UNITECH's reputation is again in tatters. This is what UNITECH community has allowed to happen, and brought upon itself.
As to my legal case, any hope of justice is by following the western way. I will win the Judicial Review case, and my remedy will be in damages. Many now know that this is in the millions of Kina: backpay, damages because of unlawful persecution and damages due to intentionaly defamation, based on manifestly trumped up and false allegations.
The only alternative solution is the traditional PNG way. If justice is not provided by the legal system, anything can happen. PNG after all is the land of unexpected. Several generations of students fought hard for transparent and accountable university governance and improvement in the academic programs, so that these are internationally recognized. Now all these efforts have gone to waste.
I learned in PNG that whether western justice or traditional justice prevails, the result is similar. There is no peace without justice, however, and the cycle of student boycotts has not been broken. Most student leaders who stood up against the former University Council and the O'Neill government, have not found good jobs, and are either self-employed or work in small companies in remote areas.
Many students have not finished their studies for standing up for accountable and transparent universit governance, and protesting against Peter O'Neill. Some have physically and financially suffered. A large group has been kicked out by the arbitrary administration of disciplinary penalties meted out by a kangaroo court, run by the Registrar Mrs. Veronica Thomas.
Some students have been arbitrarily accused of crimes by the Registrar Mrs. Veronica Thomas, and spent time in prison. In fact, much later I found out she had been actively cooperating with the police to achieve the arrest of students she did not like, and about whom she had no proof of wrongdoing whatsoever. These victims of her arbitrary actions are all still around, and some will even be coming back as students with an axe to grind. This creates a dangerous and potentially explosive situation.
Personally, if I were current Council or management team member, I would be fearful, having gained my position through appointment by one of the most corrupt PM in the history of PNG, and by justifying my position on clear and apparent lies. The Marape government is unlikely to put up with this Council's dishonest shenanigans. The management and Council do not understand their lack of legitimacy and credibility as leaders, which however is clearly perceived by the majority students and many among the staff. They are just afraid to speak up yet.
For 4 years, I tried to train this management team, but they have consistently refused to learn much, or anything at all. Their dishonesty, assinine obstinacy and extreme resistance to change is unmatched anywhere. As a consequence, with none of the University's problems are being solved in a sustainable and intelligent manner, frustration will again boil over, and the memories of how things improved during my two terms as Vice Chancellor become all the more salient. "Apres moi le deluge" (after me disaster) said a French king once, and that is my prediction for UNITECH in the coming years.
Lesson from history were obviously not learned. The longer you postpone reform and doing justice, the more violent the reaction will be. Like the democratic revolutions in Europe in the 19th century, the only king (the Russian Czar) who refused to grant a democratic constitution, provoked a violent revolution, and in the end was murdered with his whole family.
The human spirit craves for libery and justice. Both have a strange way of being unstoppable in their paths. It is not over.
References
Howes, Stephen (2019). Peter O’Neill’s eight years as PNG’s Prime Minister. ANU College of Asia & the Pacific. Retrieved from http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/news-events/all-stories/peter-oneills-eight-years-pngs-prime-ministerHowes, Stephen (2019). PNG’s faltering economic recovery - Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre. (2019, August 08). Retrieved from https://devpolicy.org/pngs-faltering-economic-recovery-20190808
"The True State of PNG’s Budget – K4,636 million deficit left by O’Neill" Papua New Guinea current news | Important News Headlines For Today - PNG. (2019, September 28). Retrieved from https://importantnewsheadlinesfortoday.com/the-true-state-of-pngs-budget-k4636-million-deficit-left-by-oneill
UNITECH investigation finds criminal negligence in management of funds | PNGexposed Blog. (2019, October 02). Retrieved from https://albertschram.blogspot.com/2014/03/unitech-investigation-finds-criminal.html
From Papua New Guinea Blogs: PNGBlogs Exclusive “The Sevua Report”. (2019, October 02). Retrieved from https://albertschram.blogspot.com/2014/03/from-papua-new-guinea-blogs-pngblogs.html
Here are the previous blog posts:
Part 1 - A Childhood Dream. Experiences of a Vice Chancellor in Papua New Guinea (1)
Part 2 - Employable Graduates. Experiences of a Vice Chancellor in Papua New Guinea (2)
Part 3 - The Student Movement. Experiences of a Vice Chancellor in Papua New Guinea (3)
Part 4 - The Staff Organizations. Experiences of a Vice Chancellor in Papua New Guinea (4)
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