{"id":758301,"date":"2022-07-24T04:40:55","date_gmt":"2022-07-24T04:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=76769"},"modified":"2022-07-24T04:40:55","modified_gmt":"2022-07-24T04:40:55","slug":"usp-unions-slam-fijis-sayed-khaiyum-for-damaging-pacific-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/07\/24\/usp-unions-slam-fijis-sayed-khaiyum-for-damaging-pacific-university\/","title":{"rendered":"USP unions slam Fiji\u2019s Sayed-Khaiyum for \u2018damaging\u2019 Pacific university"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Wata Shaw in Suva<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Fiji&#8217;s Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is &#8220;doing damage&#8221; to the premier regional university by withholding the Fiji government\u2019s obligatory contribution, say the two staff unions representing the University of the South Pacific.<\/p>\n<p>Association of the USP academic staff president Dr Elizabeth Fong and USP staff union president Tarisi Vacala said in a statement that the USP Council had held several special meetings to address current USP issues as well as matters of concern of the Fiji government members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe council deliberations led to clear majority decisions that exonerated Professor Pal Ahluwalia yet again of any mismanagement, administrative or for financial, and his reappointment as vice-chancellor and president of the USP and his relocation to Samoa,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?s=USP+saga\"><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> Other reports on the USP saga<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The unions said despite the deportation from Fiji of Professor Ahluwalia and his wife, just two years into his first contract, the government continued to \u201churt Fiji and regional students\u201d by withholding its obligatory grant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr Sayed-Khaiyum\u2019s statements in the Fiji Parliament and media about the withholding of Fiji government grant have not been accompanied by any formal paper to the University Council justifying his calls for an independent inquiry, the objectives of the inquiry, the composition of the commission of inquiry, or its terms of reference nor the financial costs that may be incurred.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is apparent, that unable to remove Professor Pal Ahluwalia for his exposure of financial mismanagement and other breaches, Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is doing damage to the premier regional university and hurting USP students by withholding the Fiji government\u2019s obligatory contribution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Questions sent to Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and Sayed-Khaiyum by <em>The Fiji Times<\/em> remained unanswered at publication time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8216;Honour&#8217; Parliament decisions call<br \/>\n<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/international\/pacific-news\/471441\/usp-unions-call-on-fiji-govt-to-stop-inquiry-demands-and-pay-debt\">RNZ Pacific reports<\/a> that the unions called on the Fiji government to &#8220;honour&#8221; the decisions of Parliament and pay the outstanding subsidy due to the university.<\/p>\n<p>The Fiji goverment has withheld what is officially called a grant but is in fact a subsidy on the student fees at the university, RNZ Pacific said.<\/p>\n<p>The two unions &#8212; Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) and the USP Staff Union (USPSU) &#8212; said the Fiji government owed the institution FJ$78.4 million (NZ$58 million).<\/p>\n<p>The money has been withheld by the government because of its ongoing battle with vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_47219\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47219\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-47219\" src=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Elizabeth-Reade-Fong-USP-FV-680wide-300x220.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"294\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Elizabeth-Reade-Fong-USP-FV-680wide-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Elizabeth-Reade-Fong-USP-FV-680wide-80x60.jpg 80w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Elizabeth-Reade-Fong-USP-FV-680wide-572x420.jpg 572w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Elizabeth-Reade-Fong-USP-FV-680wide.jpg 680w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-47219\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">USP chief librarian Dr Elizabeth Fong &#8230; speaking for the Association of USP Staff (AUSPS). Image: Fijivillage\/File<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There were a series of inquiries after Ahluwalia had identified significant corruption within the previous administration at the USP.<\/p>\n<p>Five inquiries so far have cost the USP more than FJ$1 million &#8212; and they have all exonerated Ahluwalia.<\/p>\n<p>The unions said: &#8220;It is apparent, that unable to remove Professor Pal Ahluwalia for his exposure of the financial mismanagement and other breaches of the previous USP Administration, the Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Civil Service, Communications, Housing and Community Development is doing damage to the premier regional university and hurting USP students by withholding the Fiji government&#8217;s obligatory contribution.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>However, the Fiji government last week called for yet another investigation.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The two unions representing staff at the University of the South Pacific are calling on the Fiji Government to honour the decisions of their parliament and pay the outstanding subsidy due to the university.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aIgYpn0lu3\">https:\/\/t.co\/aIgYpn0lu3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RNZPacific\/status\/1550595324208902144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 22, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The unions had a paid advertisement running yesterday in Fiji.<\/p>\n<p>In it they said: &#8220;Based on the outcomes of the inquiries there is no reasonable justification for another inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The unions on behalf of the students, staff and alumni therefore call on the Prime Minister, [Voreqe] Bainimarama to abide by and honour the decision of the Fiji Parliament that approved the USP grants for 2020, 2021 and to pay what is owed under its obligation and to bring this matter to closure so as to leave no-one behind.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ and with permission from The Fiji Times.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2022\/07\/24\/usp-unions-slam-fijis-sayed-khaiyum-for-damaging-pacific-university\/\">Asia Pacific Report<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji\u2019s Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is \u201cdoing damage\u201d to the premier regional university by withholding the Fiji government\u2019s obligatory contribution, say the two staff unions representing the University of the South Pacific. Association of the USP academic staff president Dr Elizabeth Fong and USP staff union president Tarisi Vacala said<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":400,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7938,51473,428,35127,5,495,34342,12,431,6043,14,368,611,3150,5966,34245,51475,5968,6087,4623,500,348],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/400"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":758302,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758301\/revisions\/758302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}