A former professor of the University of the South Pacific says those who made a decision to terminate a student's scholarship have an obligation to Fiji taxpayers to explain why.
Transcript
A former professor of the University of the South Pacific says those who made a decision to terminate a student's scholarship have an obligation to Fiji taxpayers to explain why.
Two weeks ago, a Bachelor of Commerce student, Tamani Seruiraduvatu, was stripped of his government scholarship because of his work with aspiring independent candidate, Roshika Deo.
Wadan Narsey says the scholarship is funded by taxpayers, who have a right to demand accountability from the Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Board chairman, Dixon Seeto, and the USP vice chancellor, who is also a member of the scholarship board, Rajesh Chandra.
Dr Narsey told Mary Baines the scholarship must be reinstated.
WADAN NARSEY: For two, three years now, we've had the Bainimarama government saying that they want to involve young people in politics, and they say that this is the reason why they brought the voting age down from 21 to 18. And I think most people in Fiji agreed with that measure. And the thing is, that if you want to encourage them into politics, it's not just to go and vote, it's also to be involved in lawful political activities, supporting campaigns, being aware of policy issues and all that. And this student, who is an indigenous Fijian, you know, by the way, not too many of them getting scholarships, he was supporting an independent candidate, not any of the parties. And apparently, this is where the story becomes very, very strange, either the university, someone in the university reported this student to the i-Taukei scholarship board, or the i-Taukei Ministry, department, and then this scholarship board terminated the scholarship. And this is supposed to be an independent scholarship board, with membership consisting of a businessman, Seeto, and the three vice chancellors of the universities in Fiji. And for them to terminate the scholarship of a student who is exercising his local, basic human right to political activity, is extraordinary to say the least.
MARY BAINES: The chairman of the board, Dixon Seeto, is not commenting on the issue. Do you think he should be accountable to explain the decision and why it was made?
WD: This scholarship is funded from taxpayers' funds, and taxpayers have a right to demand accountability from both the board, the chairman of the board, Seeto, and also these three vice chancellors, and in particular the vice chancellor of USP. The fact that they refuse to even respond is a very, very worrying sign for Fiji, that public officers are simply refusing to be accountable to the public on a matter which is so important. This spirit of unaccountability is just permeating the entire community and going to people from whom you would expect different behaviour.
MB: Should the scholarship be reinstated?
WD: There's absolutely no doubt about that. I mean, this poor student, he does come from a desperately poor family, and his mother is absolutely desperate and she is begging the authorities, and why she should be begging is beyond me at all. I mean I think the entire country should be up in arms about it. I think it is probably going to happen because if they do not reinstate this scholarship, it is going to reflect very, very badly on Bainimarama's party and whoever has been responsible for terminating this scholarship. I mean it is a shameful episode in the history of this regime.
The USP says it is independent of the Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Board and queries should be addressed to its chairman, Dixon Seeto, who however has refused all comment to Radio New Zealand International.
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