No individual, country or person has the authority to appoint or remove the University of the South Pacific’s vice-chancellor and president, say three USP unions.
The Association of the USP Staff, the USP Staff Union and the USP Students Association made the statement yesterday.
They were responding to comments made by Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in Parliament last Friday that the USP Council’s decision to re-appoint vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia was “illegal”.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum claimed the appointment was illegal because it was not in accordance with the university’s charter and that the USP Council had breached USP’s processes.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum had also claimed that the VC’s contract stated that he was appointed to serve at Fiji’s Laucala Bay campus.
The unions said the USP Charter, statutes and ordinances were quite clear as there was no statement, comment or inference that the VC must be located at the Laucala Bay Campus, Fiji.
“In his statements he showed total disrespect for the USP Council comprised of representatives of 11 independent regional Governments, donors, staff students and alumni,” the joint statement said.
The unions said that Mr Sayed-Khaiyum was reading the university’s rules “out of context” and ignored the “extraordinary” times caused by the Fiji Government deporting Prof Ahluwalia.
The USP Council, after a vote, has issued Prof Ahluwalia a new three-year contract as VC.
The council has also voted to relocate the VC’s office from the USP’s Laucala Bay campus in Fiji to its Alafua Campus in Apia, Samoa.
