 ug s vice chancellor and principal refutes claims of overspending ug s vice chancellor and principal refutes claims of overspending webmaster fri 4262019 1640 university of guyana vice chancellor professor ivelaw griffith professor ivelaw griffith the university of guyana s vice chancellor and principal has responded to news that his administration has been spending excessively for some time now ug s two unions the senior staff association ugssa and the workers union ugwu have requested an audit into ug s spending those unions have jointly published advertisements detailing why they think an audit is needed it was reported that the unions as well as students have complained that faculty washrooms go without toilet paper and soap former vice president of the ugssa dr mellissa ifill had said that the administration spent upward of 400000 to cater a dinner for eight at renaissance house she balked at the fact that the administration would spend that much on dinner for eight when toilet paper and soap is commonly unavailable in her faculty s washrooms to this griffith said not only is it patently inaccurate to assert that there is no toilet paper and soap at ug but the claim that 400000 was spent on a dinner for eight individuals is patently false speaking to kaieteur news he said that looking through records at hand there is no note of a dinner for eight being held and paid for by the administration he said that there was a dinner at his home but that that dinner was catered for by his own housekeeper for nine persons kaieteur news reported on sunday that data from the university of guyana audited and unaudited financial statements and budget documents 20142019 suggests that money is disproportionately allocated to the executive body emolument costs illustrated by their release show that in 2013 the combined compensatory packages for the executive body amounted to less than 60m in 2018 that figure stood well over 180m those figures stand precisely at 52870353 and 194419000 respectively professor griffith said that this steep increase is due to the fact that fewer persons constituted the executive body in 2013 on salaries for other staff of the university the vice chancellor stated in 2017 staff received salary increases of six and eight percent in 2018 the increases were three and four percent tax free also noteworthy is that every time the base salary increase the sum of the housing allowance which is 20 percent of the base salary also increases by the percentage of the base salary increase griffith said that the graphics provided by the union leaders is part of a campaign they are on to force him out of the institution since he has signaled his interest in renewing his contract upon its expiry the unions await an audit to be done into the administration s operations due to these requests the ministry of education has written to the administration notifying them of the unions request in response vice chancellor professor ivelaw griffith said the administration welcomes the opportunity to clear the air on the allegations and assertions by the unions and other individuals he said that the administration is willing to have its financial position examined by any competent and independent arbiter on the other hand he said that the union leaders have ignored the administration s request for information that would facilitate transparency and accountability of the two unions we asked them for items every credible union should have their articles of association certificates of recognition from the trade union recognition and certification board and recent statements of income and expenditure griffith said newsource  https wwwkaieteurnewsonlinecom 20190425 ugsvicechancellorandprincipalrefutesclaimsofoversp   ug s vice chancellor and principal refutes claims of overspending  