The so-called disciplinary panel was a kangaroo court which was assembled illegally with the sole intention to come up with a cooked-up verdict of guilt against Dr. Galani. The guilty verdict that they arrived at was predetermined and an instruction from their masters, the top brass of the university. We have at the beginning of hearing pointed out to the so-called disciplinary panel that they have been illegally assembled, contrary to article 10.5.1 (ii) of the BIUST Terms and conditions of Service that points out that “Each committee shall consist of the following.
- Chairperson
- Two Management Representatives
- Human Resources Official (as Advisor and Secretary)
- The Legal Services Official (as Advisor and Observer)
The panel was rather made up of all people that are not members of the university, single handedly picked by the university management without adhering to the above regulated composition. We brought this to their attention and asked them to recuse themselves, but they rather chose to ignore this legitimate call and decided to stick on and proceeded with the hearing with the intention to pronounce a guilty verdict as assigned, just as they did. We were surprised that when the sanction was being read to Dr. Galani on Tuesday 9th January 2024 which was recommending dismissal to Vice Chancellor of the University, the Human Resource Director was standing outside with a letter of dismissal of Dr Galani from the University. When would the Vice Chancellor have heard that the panel has recommended dismissal to have already written the dismissal letter? This no doubt shows that the so – called independent disciplinary panel has always been conferring with the university management.
We are therefore not surprised by this outcome, it was expected. AS BOSETU, we will leave no stone unturned on this matter, we will fight to the bitter end to protect our shop steward and members of BOSETU at the institution. This case is quite fundamental to us as a union, as it is involving fighting corruption to protect public funds. This case involves protecting whistle blowers in exposing heinous acts of crime and maladministration. If we don’t protect Dr Galani, then other whistle blowers will be intimidated and shy away from blowing the whistles to protect public goods, not only at BIUST but in all other public institutions. Judge Lekorwe in the case of Dr. Galani Vs BIUST has put succinctly that we cannot suppress and muzzle whistle blowing using institutional confidential clauses.
We have today met the union attorneys for advice on the matter. We will be triggering a process of an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, which will commence with an appeal process that will end up at the industrial court and ultimately court of appeal if not resolved.