Oropouche East MP Dr. Roodal Moonilal on Tuesday told the University of the West Indies to “hit the brakes” and put a “full stop” on its plan to open the UWI South Debe Campus, as the home of its Global School of Medicine.
He said that the campus was built by the former People’s Partnership government to be a Law Campus and the government feels strongly, that is what it should open as.
00:00On Monday, the University of the West Indies announced that its Debe South campus will welcome students,
00:07primarily international students, from August 2025 as the home of UWE's Global School of Medicine.
00:14But it's not something the government was pleased to hear.
00:18Minister Munilal says UWE's plan for the Debe South campus is not in line with the UNC's original intention.
00:26An urgent dialogue is needed to discuss that matter.
00:29And I told the principal at the beginning that I wanted to state up front that there is a concern about the use of this facility
00:38because we had intended this facility to be used for law and related fields.
00:44And we saw a press release of some kind in the newspaper, which we saw for the first time.
00:51I had never heard of that before.
00:52On Tuesday morning, a tour was facilitated by the university with its principal, Rosemary Bell Antwine,
01:00present alongside Minister of Tishri Education, Prakash Pasad, Orupooch East MP, Dr. Rudal Munilal,
01:07Orupooch West MP, Dr. Lakram Bodo and other officials.
01:11They must have further dialogue because it cannot be that we built this for one purpose and then it's being used for something else.
01:18We need to put a full stop right now on this business and go back to our original ideas, our original vision, our original intention.
01:28This was the brainchild of Mrs. Kamala Pasad-Misasa.
01:32If it is the university had no money in the last 10 years to open the campus,
01:37I don't know where they'll get the money in the next three months.
01:40He says apart from law, the UNC's intention was to have police officers, law enforcement and forensic science training at this campus.
01:50He says it was horrific to see the condition this half a billion dollar project is currently in.
01:56This is a massive, almost palatial type of campus, 100 plus acres.
02:01It is covered mainly, 75 percent is covered, you know, as a derelict site, as a rust site, overrun in some areas by bush and grass and vine.
02:17And the railings, all the fabricated work and so on is in a state of rust and decay.
02:23On Tuesday, media personnel were denied entry to the facility and not allowed on the official tour.
02:30Instead, photographs were shared with us.
02:33Dr. Munilal says even a cricket pavilion they built was unrecognizable.
02:38People don't know, but Barakpur, nearby here, has produced per capita more West Indian cricketers than any village in the Caribbean.
02:46We have produced West Indian cricketers.
02:48And that cricket facility was meant to uplift UE standards of cricket, which will also encourage international teams to come here and play and so on.
02:58And to see it is really to be angry that they have left this facility in such a state.
03:05We contacted the university for comment on the issues raised, but up to news time, did not receive a response.
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