By RNZ Pacific

A new council at the university of Papua New Guinea could soon be appointed, says an academic who led last week’s staff boycott at the country’s main national university.

Dr Linus Digim’Rina, head of the Division of Anthropology, Sociology and Archaeology, is a key member of the National Academic Staff Association (NASA).

Dr Digim’Rina said almost all university staff boycotted their duties for three days last week, following the suspension of the council in January.

READ MORE: UPNG shutdown crisis – the facts behind the turmoil

Higher education minister Pila Niningi cited allegations of corruption and sexual misconduct against the council in his decision to install an interim body.

But the interim council’s composition angered staff which led to the boycott, Dr Digim’Rina said.

“We avoided describing it as a strike action because there was no resolution from NASA … So it was a voluntary call on individual members of staff, everybody who are concerned about governance issues.”

On Wednesday last week, the minister accompanied by the government’s chief secretary, Isaac Lupari, met with university staff and undertook to take three actions, Dr Digim’Rina said.

‘New team altogether’
“One, complete the process of the appointment of the vice chancellor. Two, conduct an independent investigation into the allegations… And three, appoint a new council with a new composition, a new team altogether,” he said.

“That’s why we committed ourselves to return to classes last Thursday.”

The staff presented a list of names for appointment to the council which is subject to approval by the National Executive Council (NEC), Dr Digim’Rina said.

“That will be presented to NEC on Thursday, deliberated and a decision reached,” he said.

But some of the interim councillors could remain.

“The minister indicated during the presentation that he would like to keep not all but a few of his own appointees including the chancellor and that didn’t go down well with university staff,” Dr Digim’Rina said.

The chancellor, Jeffrey Kennedy, criticised NASA last week for taking industrial action on issues not related to employment.

Room for more
Kennedy said he expected his interim council to be in place until the end of the year but noted there was room for two more members to be appointed.

But the composition of the interim council does not adequately represent the university, Dr Digim’Rina said.

“A one-sided majority of the members have come from management, corporate administration and real estate backgrounds,” he said.

“There were also allegations rolling around… whereby the minister seemed to be bringing in friends and business partners into the council membership.

“Although it’s only an interim council it’s all to do with business. It’s not representative enough of the academic programmes within the university or civic organisations within society.”

Nevertheless, the need for new leadership “was recognised by university staff”, Dr Digim’Rina said.

“The previous council wasn’t necessarily performing at its best. We generally felt after so many years the council could have done a bit better,” he said.

Slow responses
But its performance may have been hindered by previous administrators, including the vice-chancellor and registrar, failing to implement council decisions in a timely fashion, Dr Digim’Rina said.

“I can say the previous council together with the previous administration, they were quite slow. The need for change was recognised by university staff,” he said.

“And in a strange way the minister’s intervention was quite necessary.”

As for completing the appointment of the vice chancellor, Frank Griffin had come through a robust selection process under the previous council that staff were “proud of”, Dr Digim’Rina said.

The minister, has appointed Kenneth Sumbuk as interim vice chancellor, who Dr Digim’Rina said was one of the candidates rejected during Professor’s Griffin’s selection.

But even though the minister had lost confidence in the previous council, he could not now claim to be sceptical of Professor Griffin, Dr Digim’Rina said.

“If that were the case the minister would have stepped in before the process was completed. Not after.”

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

By Leiao Gerega in Port Moresby

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has sidelined the University of Papua New Guinea interim council but has retained interim chancellor Jeffery Kennedy.

The decision yesterday appeased the disgruntled National Academic Staff Association (NASA) members who have agreed to return to classes today.

According to NASA working committee head, Dr Linus Digim’Rina, the ouster move was relayed by government Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari on behalf of O’Neill yesterday.

READ MORE: UPNG shutdown crisis – the facts behind the turmoil

The new university council would be “open to dialogue” among members of the UPNG staff, Higher Education Department and the interim university administration, Dr Digim’Rina said.

Those who were sidelined included pro chancellor Jerry Wemin and acting vice-chancellor Dr Kenneth Sumbuk.

University of PNG academic staff “stopped work” on Monday in protest against the recent appointments.

Dr Digim’Rina said last night when all parties decided on a new appointment process nominations would be submitted to the National Executive Council for approval.

“I can assure you that NASA and all UPNG staff (those taking voluntary action) will sustain pressure to make sure the process is completed as soon as possible,” he said.

The chief secretary told UPNG staff yesterday that O’Neill had taken note of staff grievances “to acknowledge the process of the appointment of the vice-chancellor”.

“It (the process) has followed the statute of the university…it has followed the guidelines on merit-based system where it has protected and safeguarded the appointment of vice-chancellors since 1965.

“And that process must be completed and consistent with the Higher Education Act,” Lupari said, adding that Professor Frank Griffin’s appointment as vice-chancellor would be subject to Cabinet approval.

NASA acting president Mark Kia said that according to the documents received from O’Neill and the Higher Education Minister Pila Niningi, the acting chancellor Kennedy would not be retained and the opportunity was now given to the UPNG community to suggest names for the position.

He said that because the process to appoint Dr Griffin was not completed in due time, yesterday’s decision instantly allowed the process to continue and documents would be filed next week for NEC endorsement.

The announcement of Kennedy’s retained position was, however, met with murmurs of disapproval from UPNG staff yesterday who had had to wait for almost five hours to hear O’Neill’s decision.

They were not happy that Kennedy had not been sidelined. Niningi told UPNG staff members that his “hurried decision” that had led to the “stop work” was due to “lack of communication” with the university.

He maintained that he wanted to see good governance and would make no apology.

The three issues raised by the UPNG staff members was for the government to appoint Dr Griffin vice-chancellor, reinstate the duly-appointed registrar, Dr Peter Petsul, and remove the current council.

Leiao Gerega is a reporter with the Post-Courier. The photographs are by a Pacific Media Centre correspondent.

Striking UPNG staff meet with Higher Education Minister Pila Niningi and Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari on campus yesterday. Image: Alan Robson/PMC

ANALYSIS: By Stephen Howes

The University of Papua New Guinea has for a long time been in need of far-reaching reform. But not all change is good, and what has happened this year at UPNG has taken the university in the wrong direction.

In late January, the Higher Education Minister, Pila Niningi, dissolved the UPNG Council, appointed a new interim council, and put in his own choice of vice-chancellor, all on the grounds that the old council was not performing.

You can see his reasons for the decision, basically a number of serious performance and integrity issues, in this just-released ministerial statement. It seems convincing.

READ MORE: UPNG interim council claims stop work by staff ‘illegal’

But what the minister has never mentioned is that the selection process for the position of UPNG Vice Chancellor was concluded last year and the result informally made public early this year. That process, widely regarded to be transparent and credible, resulted in the appointment of Dr Frank Griffin as the new vice–chancellor.

Just when everyone was expecting the formal announcement, the minister instead made his move, dissolving the old council and appointing a new council and VC. To make matters worse, the the minister’s choice of interim VC competed unsuccessfully for the position last year, and is the subject of serious and well–known allegations.

The government’s inability to explain the timing of its decision, and even to talk about last year’s VC selection process, let alone why it was overturned, goes a long way to explaining the sense of illegitimacy and controversy that surrounds the university’s new leadership arrangements and the protest shutdown by staff this week.

It is one thing to say that the old council was not performing. It is another to override, without explanation, what was widely seen as a credible process. That way lies disputation and worse performance, not better.

Registrar’s critique
The controversy will not fade simply with the passage of time. The recently sacked registrar has just delivered a stinging critique. University staff have now started protesting by stopping lecturing.

At his 2018 PNG Update address, Deputy Prime Minister Charles Abel spoke of the need for more Australian lecturers in PNG and more links between Australian and PNG educational institutions. But PNG cannot ask for such support and then behave however it wants.

Without some decent governance and adherence to good process, greater integration with the Australian education system will simply be impossible. At the regional level, UPNG is far behind the Fiji-based regional University of the South Pacific (USP), and what is happening now will only increase the gap.

The issue is also one for the Australian government. The now-retiring former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s flagship project, the Pacific Precinct, has UPNG at its heart, and a mandate around ethical leadership. Australia has just built three new buildings for UPNG.

All is not lost. Many at the university are unhappy. And at least some commentators are speaking out.

Trade Union Congress president John Paska has described the recent UPNG appointments as “horribly wrong”.

For now, friends of UPNG such as myself watch on in dismay. Reform, not needless turmoil, is what the university needs.

Professor Stephen Howes is director of the ANU Development Policy Centre, and leads a partnership programme between ANU and UPNG. This article was first published by the Dev Policy blog.

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

The University of Papua New Guinea registrar Dr Peter Petsul has become the first victim of the new university council, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

Dr Petsul was suspended on Monday on full pay for 14 days by new Chancellor Jeffery Kennedy at the country’s national university.

READ MORE: Unions slam ‘farcical’ appointment of chancellor, VC

In sidelining the registrar, Kennedy wrote:

“Dr Petsul has been suspended for 14 days starting on 11th February 2019.

“During this period, he is given an opportunity to show cause and respond to the council why drastic actions should not be taken against him.”

Dr Petsul was sidelined after failing to effect a council decision to rescind a decision by the former council to increase school tuition and boarding fees.

Kennedy has instructed the acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Kenneth Sumbuk to appoint an acting registrar to run the administration.

In early January, RNZ Pacific reported that most UPNG students faced a massive 29 percent hike in their fees this year.

Some degree courses, such as medicine and nursing, faced even bigger increases.

At the time, UPNG’s public relations director James Robins said other expenses, such as accommodation, were unchanged.

But Robins said this compulsory fee, along with the annual government budget allocation, was needed to cover basic costs so students can complete their programmes.

Last month, the PNG Trade Union Congress slammed the appointments of Jeffrey Kennedy as chancellor and Dr Sumbuk as vice-chancellor in an ongoing controversy over the university’s governance.

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

Papua New Guinea’s Trade Union Congress has slammed the appointments of Jeffrey Kennedy as chancellor and Kenneth Sumbuk as vice-chancellor of the University of Papua New Guinea, reports the Post-Courier.

President John Paska said the congress had initially welcomed the announcement to investigate administrative malpractice and other aspects of the university but these two appointments now questioned the credibility of the exercise.

He said this was a governance issue which attracted public attention and commentary.

UPNG audit “action” pledged … front page story in The National.

“With the stroke of a pen the Minister, Pila Niningi, has turned what appeared to be a step in the right direction into a farcical exercise denigrating it into a comical show piece,” he said.

“Last year we questioned the selection process of candidates for the vice-chancellors position. Our questions emanated from information received about serious allegations that had been raised about Professor Sumbuk’s administration of K23 million (NZ$11 million) for various UPNG activities.

“We are not in any way pronouncing guilt on Sumbuk but the fact remains serious allegations hang over his persona that only a properly constituted investigation can ascertain to the contrary. To the best of our knowledge no investigation has been conducted to determine the veracity of the allegations,” he said.

Sources report that the university council had already recommended the appointment of Professor Frank Griffin, a former head of science at UPNG as vice-chancellor. However, the council was sacked on Monday and new members appointed.

Integrity in question
Paska told the Post-Courier Sumbuk’s integrity and credibility remained in question.

“Meanwhile, we query the eligibility of Mr Kennedy for the position of chancellor of the university. How does he qualify to be chancellor?

“Something is horribly wrong. The wheels of credibility and integrity of this investigation have collapsed before moving an inch. Unless otherwise my personal confidence in this exercise is shattered and I believe so is the public’s.”

“We call on the Prime Minister to intervene and rectify the situation, Paska said.

The National reports that the interim council would look into the 13 areas identified in a 2013 external audit as requiring attention, and implement them.

Acting vice-chancellor Professor Sumbuk told The National after his appointment by the interim council at its first meeting yesterday that he would “revive UPNG’s academic standard and review the 2013 external audit”.

Council ousted
“As we settle into the new academic year, we will audit all 13 areas of the university management that has not been done (since 2013),” he said.

“Parents and students must not worry about anything as there will be nothing shaken or swept under (the carpet). I am looking forward to facilitating the investigation and reviews proposed by the government.”

The 10 council members were appointed on Monday by Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Pila Niningi after ousted acting chancellor Dr Nicholas Mann and acting vice-chancellor Vincent Malaibe.

Niningi said he had to make the changes because of the failure by the university council to respond to queries he had made on matters regarding the institution since last July.

However, Dr Mann told The National on Wednesday that they would reserve their comment on their “sidelining” by Niningi because they were seeking legal advice from the university’s lawyers.

“Whether the decision to sideline us is proper or not, that would be advised by our lawyers and then we will announce it to the public,” Dr Mann said.

The council also rescinded the hike in compulsory fees, which will remain at K2939 (NZ$1300).

By Keith Jackson

A letter from the former vice-chancellor of Papua New Guinea’s University of Natural Resources and Environment (UNRE) in Rabaul says senior staff urged him to leave the country for his own safety after a scurrilous attempt had been made to level trumped up criminal charges against him.

A member of UNRE staff has revealed a letter to the university’s council which explains to its members exactly why Professor John Warren left hurriedly and without formal ceremony this month, with the experience of former University of Technology vice-chancellor Dr Albert Schram fresh in his mind.

Earlier this year, there were attempts to detain Dr Schram in PNG as an act of vengeance following his identification of corrupt practices at Unitech.

READ MORE: Albert Schram: My wrongful dismissal and malicious prosecution – a warning

Dr Schram was later able to leave the country when he realised a conspiracy against him was beginning to take shape and was able to regain his passport and return to Italy.

In his letter to the university council, Prof Warren says he hopes it will clarify the circumstances surrounding the events that led to his sudden departure which occurred after the UNRE chancellor Kenneth Sumbuk accused him of spreading rumours that he (Sumbuk) wanted to take over the university.

“On five separate occasions he mentioned the possibility of reporting me to the police over this,” Prof Warren wrote.

“Although I was aware of rumours that the chancellor wanted to be vice-chancellor, they had not been circulated by me. In fact I considered them trivial gossip.

‘Very disturbed’
“However, I was very disturbed by the chancellor’s repeated threats to report me to the police.”

At a hastily-called council meeting on July 26, Prof Warren’s authority was constantly undermined and normal protocols and procedures ignored and ridiculed by the chancellor. It seems council members themselves also failed to assist, resolve or regularise matters.

“By the end of the meeting my job had become untenable, and I submitted my resignation the following day,” Warren wrote.

Prevailed upon to remain for a transition period by PNG Higher Education Secretary Fr Jan Czuba, Prof Warren at first agreed but was then informed by senior UNRE staff that they were concerned about his safety if he remained.

The same afternoon he received news that a court order was about to be served on him and, after consulting the British High Commission and his lawyer, and with the Schram case in mind, he decided that “although the charges were ludicrous, I should leave PNG as quickly and quietly as possible”.

He added: “This I did, regrettably without being able to say goodbye to my many close friends and colleagues.

“My decision to accept the position of vice-chancellor at UNRE was not motivated by financial or career reasons,” Prof Warren said.

‘Significant reduction’
“I took a significant reduction in salary when moving to UNRE and have no ambition to work in academia following this appointment.

“I was motivated purely by a desire to help UNRE improve as an organisation, to enhance the education received by its students, and to promote the sustainable use of natural resources in PNG.”

Since his departure, angry UNRE students have been boycotting classes and demanding an explanation of the events that led to his departure.

But Prof Warren will not be coming back. “Under no circumstances will I be returning to UNRE as vice-chancellor,” he said.

In his letter to the university council, he accused it of repeatedly overturning decisions it had no authority to make.

“It is extremely poor governance for council to undermine the authority of the vice-chancellor unless there is a significant disciplinary issue,” he said.

“If you were unhappy with my performance, you should have said so and I would have been happy to step down. Instead you took over the responsibilities of the CEO.”

Making up rules
Prof Warren said council members should consider their positions.

He did not say this, but it can be observed here, that the chancellor and council should be sacked and the operations of Fr Czuba’s struggling higher education authority put under scrutiny.

However, with PNG rapidly becoming a place where people make up their own rules as the normal functioning of organisations breaks down, none of this will happen,

The prospects of PNG’s higher education system recovering and strengthening through the application of qualified, competent and dedicated leadership seem a long way off.

Keith Jackson is a retired educator, teacher, civil servant, police maker and broadcaster who lived for many years in Papua New Guinea, but who also had experience in Fiji, India, Indonesia, Maldives and the Philippines. His blog PNG Attitude was established to address a major issue – “the silence that, for too long after PNG independence in 1975, existed between Papua New Guineans and Australians.”