Special USP Council meeting soon

A special meeting of the USP Council will be called soon.

USP Pro-Chancellor Winston Thompson says just because one USP Council member asks for a meeting does not mean it is going to happen.

He says under the rules, there is a requirement for a minimum of 10 members to ask for a meeting for it to be convened.

Thompson says the President of Nauru asked for a meeting on Wednesday and he has provided the signatures of 10 members.

He says they will have to work out the mechanics of the meeting because it will be held online on the video conferencing tool - ZOOM.

Thompson has given the assurance they will try to hold it as soon as possible.

On Tuesday, the President of Nauru and Incoming Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific Lionel Aingimea had called for a special meeting of the USP Council.

He had claimed that the disciplinary ordinance for dealing with the suspended Vice-Chancellor Pal Ahluwalia had been violated.

Aingimea had said there are processes and procedures which dictate how such matters should be dealt with but these have simply been ignored.

The President of Nauru is due to take up his position as USP Chancellor on 1st July this year.

Australia and Samoa have also publicly called for a special meeting of the USP Council.

Fiji’s Education Minister, Rosy Akbar has said as the host country with the largest number of enrolled students, and by far the largest contributor from the Pacific member countries, Fiji would like to see the matters resolved quickly through the internal mechanisms of the university.

She says it is clear, after studying all the material there is a need to address the governance anomalies which have disrupted the transparency at the university.

Akbar says a university is a place of learning and they must set an example to students, our future leaders, that any breach of rules will be investigated using the proper channels with action taken if and as appropriate.

There are 33 members of the USP Council.

Fiji, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Samoa are represented on the USP Council while there is also one member appointed by each of the governments of Australia and New Zealand. Two registered students of USP also represent the USP Students Association.

The Fijian Government has five representatives on the USP Council. They are the Minister for Education Rosy Akbar, Acting Permanent Secretary for Education Susan Kiran, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Economy Makereta Konrote, Chartered Accountants Mahmood Khan and Fay Yee.