One University of the West Indies (UWI) student is determined to get more Barbadians back into the Guild of Students of the Cave Hill campus.
Hector “Zion” Adabanya is concerned there were not enough local students taking part, something he is campaigning to change as he is in the running to be the next Guild president.
“When you go to the other campuses and even international colleges and universities, you can never have people from other countries making up the majority of their student guilds. For example, you would not have mostly Barbadians in the Mona campus in Jamaica because Jamaicans mostly are on the council,” he said.
However, he said this was not the case at Cave Hill, something which he said could have consequences.
“I believe the local culture is very important because at the end of the day, when there’s a problem with something like guild finances, the truth is somebody could just leave and go back to their country and nobody sees them again, and it’s happened before when you have a local in charge, there’s no hiding because everybody knows where they are,” he said.
The UWI student, who is studying for a bachelor’s degree in banking and finance, said the main problem was the reputation of the guild, which was suffering. He said locals tended to shy away from anything which was involved in controversy.
“When you hear about the negativity, Barbadians tend not to go near that, so we have to make the guild respected and valued again. We are currently trying to make the guild more transparent, or we will only repeat mistakes,” he said.
Adabanya referred to the recent protest action where students raised questions about the treatment of the guild and the management of its funds. The university said they had taken action following a management audit which revealed financial irregularities within the guild, though it acknowledged the measures may not adequately balance the guild’s desired independence with the necessary financial oversight.
“Now, there is a lot of red tape, rightfully put into place by the university because of prior scandals. I would agree to make things easier on us, but only if there is a council overseeing our finances and making what it does public. I want more eyes on the guild,” he said.
Adabanya, the deputy union committee chairperson of the guild, said he realised some may question why he was so set on this, as he was not born in Barbados. He is Nigerian but has been here for around ten years and said he calls Barbados home.
“Barbadians are the most populous students on this campus by far and they need to be part of the guild. But they do not feel represented. I’m not Bajan but I already have a lot of support from local students who want to have more representation in the guild.
“Barbados had done a lot for me. I came here in 2018 and it was a struggle at first, but I received help and a scholarship and now I want to do something to give back and right a wrong. I feel at home here and I think the students can see that,” he said.
The guild president hopeful said he felt passionate about the issue.
“The culture of this institution is counting on more local representation and participation. We have to deal with this before irreparable damage is done,” he said.
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