Chancellor confirms role as head of full council

UNIVERSITY of Goroka (UoG) chancellor Joseph Sukwianomb says he is the head of the council established by an Act of Parliament (UOG Act 1997).
Sukwianomb said this in response to queries by The National regarding claims that UoG’s council had only been an interim council for years.
The spokesman of a faction of landowners of the land where UoG is situated Nelson Ipakio Auwo, said last week that UoG still had an interim council headed by Sukwianomb which was appointed in 2016.
Auwo claimed that the interim council had been in office for almost six years and had gone over its tenure which was supposed to run for three to six months before a permanent appointment.
However, Higher Education, Science, Research and Technology (DHESRT) secretary Fr Jan Czuba refuted Auwo’s claim.
Fr Jan said Auwo was incorrect as the university had a normal council and not an interim council.
Sukwianomb confirmed that the current council was established by the O’Neill government in August 2015.
“Our mission then was to bring normalcy to the university which we did over the period,” he said.
He said the council had overseen much positive change and development at the university.