“I am no thief” – UGSS president

By Whitney Persaud –

University of Guyana Students Society (UGSS) President Ganesh Mahipaul said as audits into the loans he took from the society progress, he is optimistic that his name will be cleared from any misappropriations.
“The constitution is old and speaks about borrowing money… this incident has assassinated my character significantly, but it gives the UGSS an opportunity to ensure proper and amended regulations are instituted in the financial legislation of its constitution,” Mahipaul stated.

During a telephone interview with Guyana Times International, Mahipaul, who is out of town, said he deems the entire scenario as both unfortunate and fortunate. He said it is unfortunate in the sense that the situation has significantly damaged his character, portraying him as a thief to the public.
However, it is fortunate, because it will allow the UGSS to update the archaic constitution which governs his operations.
“It is good as it will be a boost for the UGSS to work with a better procedure and I am sure that when the audit is completed, my name will be cleared and I will be reinstated, but I wouldn’t want the position,” he stated.
The constitution, he said, speaks to the possibility of borrowing funds, but does not detail the procedures that should and should not be followed when doing so.
Mahipaul believes the incident, although degrading to him, gives the body an opportunity to ensure proper financial regulations are put in place and enforced.
The UGSS president said the news being spread in the media about him stealing the money is baseless since there is paper work to show for the loan.
He added that there is also a system in place to ensure loans are repaid, where graduating students are denied their certificates until they have done so.
Mahipaul stated that he is willing and able to repay the money he took, which was his intention from the onset and noted that he has already started to take the necessary steps in obtaining the monies to repay the funds by May 31.
During last month, Mahipaul had been accused by a group of students of misappropriating Gy$ 800,000 of the student body’s money.
Mahipaul has admitted to borrowing the money, which he said was used to meet his personal expenses.
He said the Gy$ 800,000 of the student body’s money was borrowed to offset personal expenses but remained mum on what those expenses are.
When asked about his reasons for not approaching a bank or another financial institution to obtain a loan, he said that this would have required him to have some form of collateral, something he does not have.
Mahipaul stated that as stipulated by the UGSS constitution, he went ahead and borrowed the money from the society, noting that several executive members were aware of the borrowing.
He argued that unadulterated ignorance is taking place with respect to media reports on the matter.
This publication understands that several executive and council members have called for his resignation over what they say is a misappropriation of the limited finances of the UGSS, and an audit is currently being conducted following the alleged misappropriation of funds.