Dear Editor,
Reading the Sunday Stabroek edition of 18th Nov. the article on the new University of Guyana Chancellor, Mr. Calestous Juma, caught my attention.
Without a doubt Mr. Juma has an impressive resume, but I find it extremely puzzling how a foreigner, who it appears according to the article has never spent any time in Guyana, is appointed to such a high post in the University. Are there no qualified and competent Guyanese in or outside of Guyana that could have filled this position? Certainly I will not accept that there are no Guyanese equivalent to Mr. Juma.
It is ironical how we speak of patriotism, and of Guyana first and ask Guyanese to "buy local", yet the University, a Guyanese institution, cannot even "hire local."
Yours faithfully,
Chandra Tagore
Editor note:
It is not unusual for universities to have Chancellors who are not nationals. The first Chancellor of U.G, Sir Lancelot Hogben, a distinguished mathematician, was not Guyanese nor was Dr Dennis Irvine.