THE EDITOR: As a southerner, I frequently use the Debe Highway. Numerous times when I traversed that portion of the highway close to the UWI Debe campus, I would comment on the colossal waste of taxpayers’ funds as a result of the non-utilisation of the completed facilities.

The sporting facilities to accompany the academic campus is visible from the highway, and seeing how nature has reclaimed the nearly completed field and stands was symptomatic of the direction that facility was taking.

The announcement that the campus was going to be opened in August of this year is welcomed news.

However, the pictures that came out after the ministerial tour of the facilities realised my worst fears. The current state of the buildings show that significant refurbishment work would be needed to restore the facilities.

This is surely a disappointing state of affairs, as this facility was most recently used as a step-down facility during the pandemic. This was proof that these buildings were in a usable state, so why would one allow them to deteriorate to this level, post pandemic?

This is a tremendous waste of precious and scarce resources, as the refurbishment work needed to bring the compound to international standards to accept students, will surely cost taxpayers even more money.

One of the proposed uses of this facility, an international medical school, is very forward-thinking. There are other Caribbean countries which have medical schools that cater for international students, such as Grenada and St Maarten. If one looks at the fee structure of these schools, one can see how lucrative and beneficial this venture is.

This begs the question, why wasn’t this pursued long before?

In a period where forex is scarce, where jobs are needed and where investment opportunities are limited, it is very confusing as to why there was a delay in opening this campus. Could it be political spite at the heart of such a decision?

If so, the past administration has many questions to answer for the blatant wastage of the scarce and hard-earned funds of the citizens. The people are not blind, but unfortunately, they are bearing the brunt of this poor governance over the last decade.

STEVE SEETAHAL

San Fernando

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