THE BILLIONS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN REPAID

There was once an official of the Guyana Cricket Board by the name of Rovin Stanley. One day, it was said, a proposal was made to him to support the nomination of a political prince to become the Patron of the Demerara Cricket Board, an associate member of the Guyana Cricket Board. He refused.
Stanley was a brilliant young man, a graduate of the University of Guyana. Not long after that incident, he, like so many other graduates of the University of Guyana, migrated to Canada.
Not long after he decided to return to Guyana for a visit. Initially, he did not have any problems. But as he was leaving the country to return to his job in Canada, his problems began.
He was stopped by Immigration authorities and asked whether he ever had a scholarship from the Guyana Government. He said no. He was then asked whether he was a graduate of the University of Guyana and he said yes.  He was then asked about his student loan from UG which he confirmed but which he had a full fifteen years to repay and to repay in installments.
His passport was detained and he was asked to report to a government ministry. At that ministry, he was first told that there is no government policy to stop persons with student loans leaving the country.  Despite the fact that he eventually was not required to begin repayment, he was asked to enter into agreement to pay a certain sum as down payment. No doubt under duress, he paid the sum because he wanted to get back to his job in Canada.
But later he was told that he had to pay off the entire student loan before he could leave. In order to save his job he was forced to do this.
This matter was publicized widely in the Kaieteur News in February of 2011. Its significance is not so much about when the political harassment of cricket board officials began but more about government’s policy in relation to persons who have graduated from the University of Guyana, have student loans and are leaving the country.
The contract signed between students of the University of Guyana and the Student Loan Agency gives students fifteen years to repay these loans. There is even a grace period after graduating during which the students have to repay these loans.
The issue therefore is the demand that Rovin Stanley had to repay the full sum due on his loan even though he had fifteen years to do so. Does this not constitute a breach of contract between him and the Student Loan Agency?
And what exactly is the government’s policy in terms of restricting a graduate’s right to freedom of movement? How come this policy of stopping persons from leaving the country was applied on Stanley and not on the hundreds of graduates who travel in and out of Guyana?
This matter is being recalled in the context of claims that billions are owed to the Student Loan Fund for university students. I am not surprised at all about this because while the fund is a revolving one and has received annual replenishments from the government, there are thousands of graduates from the University of Guyana who are walking around both here in Guyana and outside of these shores, who have not repaid any money, and many of them may not have even repay a blind cent. So the replenishments are really being absorbed for new loans while the repayments which should be used to revolve the fund are inadequate, and one suspects, next to nothing.
Many persons have not paid a cent of their student loans. Yet, here was this former official of the Guyana Cricket Board who was asked to repay his entire sum, one time, even though his contract with the Student Loan Agency had indicated that he had fifteen years to repay that amount.
It is time that the government makes clear what is the policy as regards restricting the movement of graduates of UG because the Stanley incident raised serious concerns about how this policy is being applied.
Is there a policy to restrict the movement of persons who have contracted loans to the Student Loan Agency? And what is to be done to recoup the billions of taxpayer dollars which were loaned to students and are not being repaid as per agreement with the Student Loan Agency?