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Unitech under guard
By PETER KORUGL
THE Papua New Guinea University of Technology in Lae, Morobe province,
is under police guard.
Police yesterday moved onto the campus to ensure the students’ protest
over fee increase did not get out of control.
The entire mobile and task force units moved into the Taraka campus at
about 3am and were there all day yesterday.
Under the watchful eyes of the police, the administration tried to get
the students to conduct the referendum over the 5% fee increase. The
referendum was aborted on Wednesday.
While some students were voting under the supervision of the PNG
Electoral Commission, the majority intervened and demanded a stop,
saying that it was pointless to hold a referendum when the university
council was refusing to back down on its decision on the fees.
Registrar Allan Sako informed the students that the referendum was
necessary to determine whether classes resume or not.
“The council has informed me that it would not back down on its
decision. You have four weeks remaining. There is no way we can adjust
the almanac this year. You are the ones who will suffer,” Mr Sako told
the students, adding that police were there to protect Government
property and lives.
Chancellor Philip Stagg, in a paid advertisement in the Post-Courier on
Wednesday, said after considering all issues in relation to the fee
increase, it agreed to a 5% increase in the board and lodging fees for
next year.
Yesterday in yet another paid advertisement, Mr Stagg said the
university did not deny that it suffered from inadequate funding, whilst
facing increasing costs.
“Like any other organisation, the university operates on a strategy
where an understanding is reached with its creditors to serve its debts
on an agreed schedule.
“Immediate and timely debt retirement has been difficult because the
institution, like other Government agencies, does not enjoy the luxury
of readily available cash in huge sums.
“This is sound business management strategy, especially for a State
agency that does not have a profit mission and is at the receiving end
of the cash flow constraints faced by its principal financier, the
Government.”
 
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