How was Melissa Ifill’s appointment at UG made?

Dear Editor,
It has come to my attention that Vice Chancellor Paloma Mohammed Martin has appointed Dr. Melissa Ifill as a Deputy Vice Chancellor of institutional advancement.
What exactly is this position? It sounds like more of the otiose titles created by Paloma’s predecessor, Ivelaw Griffith, with his delusions of grandeur and wasteful expenditure. Ifill, appointed by David Granger, sits on the CXC Task Force on Curriculum issues.
Ifill condoned electoral fraud that would have resulted in APNU retaining power and Granger remaining as President. This promotional appointment is of strategic importance to APNU.
The Ifill appointment was made two days before David Granger demitted office. What was the urgency to make the appointment just days before a change in administration?
On whose authority was it made? Was the position advertised? Did VC Dr Paloma Mohammed Martin act on her own? Was Paloma Martin pressured to make the appointment just before Granger demitted office? Did the University Council or Board meet on the matter? When did the interim board meet? Did the Council or Paloma review Ifill’s qualification and background for this “Institutional Advancement”? Were others considered?
Why couldn’t a scholar, say like Freddie Kissoon, be appointed for that job? He has far more experience than Ifill. And he has none of the political baggage of Ifill. Given there has been a caretaker administration since Dec 22, 2018, why did the council or Board entertain new appointments of a Chancellor in October 2019 and a VC in June 2020 in the midst of an election crisis?
Why didn’t VC Paloma Martin make a case for the appointment to be deferred until after the conclusion of the election? Did it not occur to her that it was unethical to make such appointments? Didn’t Paloma even give a thought that she should wait and consult the new administration? Is PPP chopped liver?
Paloma was a Deputy VC during the Ivelaw Griffith (another PNC/APNU ideologue) administration, and never uttered a word against, or disassociate herself from, financial abuse. As is the norm in any country, new appointments are not undertaken during the reign of a caretaker administration.
When will Chancellor JE Green, an APNU ideologue who praised Burnham’s fraudulent electoral victories and was silent during the 2020 fraud, Vice Chancellor Paloma Mohammed, and Deputy VC Melissa Ifill resign? It is unethical for them to remain in office after being appointed during a caretaker regime. More of the same or continuity of personnel (as under APNU) won’t work. Real change is needed. President Ali should be given an opportunity to constitute a new university board that must revisit new appointments during the caretaker administration if they don’t resign forthwith. The legitimately elected administration should be allowed to pursue change at UG. Paloma, Edward Greene, and Ifill must not stand in the way. If they have academic integrity, they must tender their resignation. They are not non-partisan appointees, given their politics. Edward Green praises PNC for making electoral gains in rigged elections.
For the record, Melissa Ifill is one of the political ideologues behind the PNC (APNU). She is an Afro-centrist and a Pan-Africanist, a champion of issues relating to Blacks in Guyana and around the region. She is a member of the CXC Task Force that prepares the syllabus and curriculum for the region. Indians, Amerindians, Chinese, Portuguese, Whites are given a passing reference in the approved books on English literature and social science texts. She consistently opposed attempts to review and make changes to give equity to other ethnic groups in the curriculum. Indians are the largest groups in Guyana and Trinidad. Amerindians constitute a significant portion of the population. Chinese and Portuguese were important facets of the history of the region, and played critical roles in economic development. They should not be treated as mere footnotes in the curriculum of CXC. There must be equity across the racial groups in curriculum and appointments.
More recently, Dr. Ifill founded the Village Voice – a very partisan electronic publication on Afro-centric issues that has been announced to transform into a hard copy newspaper to represent the PNC’s positions. Already David Hinds and Lincoln Lewis have found a home there, after they quit the KN. Adam Harris will also play a role. The Village Voice exhibits the same type of ethnic partisanship that existed in the Chronicle under APNU, when all of the columnists were Afrocentric and not one had a different perspective.
While one must not be penalised or overlooked for any position on account of cultural or ethnic nationalism, or political affiliation, appointments must be judicious and sensitive to interests of other groups and the politics of the nation. There must be some kind of balance to an ethnically partisan appointment like that of Ifill. Appointment of an Afro-centrist should be balanced by appointments of Indo-centric and Amerindian-centric academics. It is unacceptable for APNU ideologues to be placed in strategic positions at UG and elsewhere. President’s Ali Administration must immediately visit the issue of all administrative appointments at UG.

Yours truly,
Parbatie Laloo