EVEN CHANCELLOR BOGAN SEES THAT UNITECH’S EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAM HAS FAILED

By NARAPELA STAFF

Acting VC John Pumwa and Acting PVC Macquin Maino yesterday told a large Unitech crowd that they had done all possible to bring back Albert Schram.  What they conveniently failed to mention was that even Unitech’s boss, Chancellor Sir Nagora Bogan, does not share their optimism.  Instead:

“I share your sentiments about the lackadaisical and protracted delay by SEM of Unitech in the implementation of the Council Decision of 12/2/2014”  (letter to Mr Justin Kehatsin of National 

Academic Staff Association about the SEM’s progress on the Shram matter).

The words “lackadaisical” and “protracted delay” are strong words that slap hard.  Sir Nagora is a man of respected judgement and would not use those words lightly.  Sir Nagora’s observations describe the same issue that students and staff have become irritated about: the lack of visible action by the Unitech senior executive management (SEM). 

Yesterday Pumwa and Maino tried to convince us that our perceptions of their bad performance was  misplaced.   In view of Chancellor Bogan’s words this was purposeful deception.  They have now destroyed their last remaining credibility, showing they cannot be trusted to tell the truth.  

At the forum, Pumwa and Maino urged us to appreciate all they have done at Unitech over the past year and forget about the issue at hand. 

In other words, Pumwa and Maino want us to be grateful that they didn’t screw up all of Unitech over the past year but only screwed up the most important issue on the minds of nearly everyone at Unitech.  What low standards they invite us to follow as we try to show the world that we are capable of managing our own affairs.  The worst strategy is to place unqualified colleagues into important management positions, watch them fail, then follow Pumwa and Maino’s advice and pretend it didn’t happen.   Meanwhile he rest of the world keeps their eyes open and witnesses not only our failures but our inability to honestly admit them.       

Over the past weeks Unitech’s reputation has been badly damaged by rumours that try to explain why Unitech’s efforts to resolve the Schram saga was moving so slowly.  The blame for this windstorm rests squarely on Pumwa and his SEM.  They have shown no abilities whatsoever to detect the growing anger of students and staff and take action to relieve the pressure.   Only when the anger finally boiled over and began spreading as comments on Facebook, articles on social media like this one, letters to the newspapers, opinion papers posted and scattered all over campus, finally resulting in yesterday’s forum, did Pumwa and Maino give their side of the story.  

Pumwa’s philosophy on dealing with dissatisfaction at Unitech is to wait in his office and invite  students to come see him when they’re unhappy.  That’s in fact what he asked students to do yesterday. This confirms that Pumwa still thinks he lives overseas in a land where people speak out easily.  In the PNG context he shows no ability to detect and handle upcoming problems before they get out of control.  With regard to staff feedback Pumwa seems not to realise that he has a reputation for harsh, impulsive reactions and also being a hard head and not changing those impulsive opinions.   Why share opposing views with him when he won’t change his mind anyway and you might suffer the punishment Pumwa is putting on Ken Polin?     

The reason why there is a unified protest moment on Unitech that could close the university down is because the SEM failed miserably in dealing with the Schram affair.  Pumwa and his SEM’s complete failure to make their actions transparent to the public at large explains why pngblogs has become the default Unitech daily newspaper while the Unitech reporter publication is dismissed as a propaganda mouthpiece.   In the area of communication, Pumwa and his team are as bad or worse as the former VC Misty Baloiloi and Registrar Alan Sako, a sad two people to be linked with in terms of performance.

There is something else that Chancellor Bogan wrote about on 20 Feb which relates to SEM’s recent reprehensible demand for Ken Polin to resign or be terminated for speaking his views on the Schram affair:    “As Chancellor I would like to see that the affairs of Unitech are managed in an open, transparent, mature and highly professional manner.  This includes allowing staff and students to offer constructive critique of how we manage the affairs of Unitech so long as it is done respectfully, rationally and is confined to substantive issues.”  Ken Polin’s speeches have always been respectful, rational and substantive.  In general Pumwa and Mainos’ childish, impulsive and deeply bureaucratic reactions to silence whoever speaks out against their leadership reflect what the previous regime of Baloiloi and Sako were expert in.  Telling people to spy and find out who speaks out against your work and policies only fans the flames. 

 Pumwa and Maino have fooled themselves into thinking there are only a few disgruntled staff or students, therefore only a few heads to identify and cut off.  Yesterday’s crowd hopefully makes them realise that most of the university has turned against them.

Pumwa and his SEM have given sufficient evidence that they lack crisis management abilities.  No one questions Pumwa and Maino’s professionalism at signing passout slips, chair meetings efficiently, push papers in the right directions after writing approved or not approved, give inspiring speeches and at their heart be good people who care about Unitech.    

However, anyone serving in their positions of high responsibility cannot be content to be a bureaucrat.  They must also think ahead, plan strategically, communicate even when they might not think it is necessary, and go out and mix with staff and students to get a better idea of how they see the world.  In times of instability as Unitech has been in for awhile, high administrators cannot fail to transparently communicate.  They cannot react like tyrants when told that people are speaking against them.    Intellectuals at Unitech have seen for a long time what our Chancellor Sir Nagora now expresses his concern about.     

Yesterday, Pumwa and Maino finally spoke out and interacted for a long time with concerned students and staff.   Once again, this did not reflect leadership on their part.  It was another reaction caused by staff and student pressure.   Activist staff and students get all the credit for showing leadership.