Last Updated on Monday, 6 April 2026, 21:08 by Writer
As a fourth lawyer and the University of Excellence, Management and Business Inc (UEMBI) parted ways, the President of that privately-owned institution, Stanley Paul on Monday said its doors could be closed if the High Court rules against him in a case for possession of the Critchlow Labour College building.
“If I lose the case before the court, then I have to close. Where I’m going to operate? I can’t operate any place else. That’s part of my pleading. The accreditation that we have is location-specific so if you lose possession of the building, then the result of that is close,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.
Court records show that Attorney-at-Law, Joelle Harmon is no longer representing the UEMBI.
Mr Paul said he and Ms Harmon had differences over the filing of submissions because he believed there were “new and sharpened issues” raised by the CLC Inc in its submissions. “Dear Dr Paul, please take note that Mrs. Joelle Harmon-Alstrom of IBIS Law Chambers has withdrawn her representation in the matter of Critchlow Labour College v University of Excellence, Management and Business Inc. et al with effect from 1st of April, 2026,” she said in her correspondence.
The case comes up for hearing on April 7, 2026.
Mr Paul said he hoped to ask Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln for more time to hire another lawyer.
He also plans to ask permission to file an affidavit in reply that he has drafted “but it’s all up to the judge’s discretion.”
He said after the lawyer pulled out of the case, he became frustrated and informed students that the UEMBI would shut operations by December 2026.
Mr Paul was, however, quick to point out that there are two conditions attached to the closure plan. One of them was stated in the correspondence sent to all students. “Should a credible and suitable party come forward before year-end with a serious interest in taking over the University, U.E.M.B. would be open to considering such an arrangement in the best interest of students and the continuity of academic provision,” he said.
The UEMBI Principal said the National Accreditation Council has since responded to his intended notice of closure, telling him that he has to be “decisive and specific” instead of issuing caveats.
Mr Paul also told Demerara Waves Online News on Saturday that if the court rules that he must give up possession of the Critchlow Labour College building, he would have to cease operations because the institution is “location specific.”
The UEMBI Principal said so far he had spent GY$2.5 million on four lawyers but he was dissatisfied with their representation.
The UEMBI had withdrawn a High Court case concerning the CLC.
The High Court case was filed by the CLCI centres on whether a lease agreement with the CLC’s principal is valid although he allegedly had no authority to do so and it was signed at a time when the college company was struck off the company’s register.
The CLCI is asking the High Court to block the UEMBI from constructing anything and cease trespassing on the plot of land on Woolford Avenue, Georgetown that was leased to the college by the Mayor and City Council in 1968.
According to court papers filed by Attorney-at-Law Roysdale Forde on behalf of the CLCI, the institution is also seeking a High Court order that the UEMBI pays compensatory damages at a monthly rental of GY$3,106,000 from September, 2025, and continuing due to the UEMBI’s wrongful possession of property to the rightful owner.
The court is also be asked to order the UEMBI to cease trespassing or remaining in possession of the property because a purported lease agreement that was signed by CLC Principal Ivor English was on behalf of the Critchlow Labour College and not the CLCI.
The CLCI case is that the purported agreement is a “nullity” because the CLCI was struck off the Companies Register on November 30, 2013 and was restored on November 3, 2025.
The documents state that the commercial lease agreement was dated June 4, 2025 “at a time of the inability” of Critchlow Labour College “to function as a legal entity under the Companies Act”.
The Court is also being informed that Mr English was never a director or officer of the college before the college was struck off the register of companies or after it was restored.
Instead, the Court papers say he signed the agreement as principal of the Critchlow Labour College Inc.
Further, the court is being asked to agree that the purported agreement was between the Critchlow Labour College and not the Critchlow Labour College Incorporated, and that Mr English never consented to the issuance of any sublease to the UEMBI.
UEMBI President Stanley Paul is maintaining that the lease agreement he inked with the CLC Principal is valid. “In particular I specifically deny the Applicant’s allegation that the Third Respondent, Dr. Ivor B. English, had no authority to negotiate, execute, and/or bind the Applicant to the tenancy arrangement pleaded herein, and I say that at all material times he held himself out, and was represented to me, as the person authorised to act for and bind the Applicant in relation to the premises,” he said.
Mr Paul said in keeping with the agreement, whose initial term is 15 years from June 4, 2025, with automatic renewal, rent was fixed at GY$1 million monthly from September 1, 2025 and advance rent of GY$4 million was paid and acknowledged.
Mr Paul said that executing the commercial lease agreement, receiving the advance rent, and placing the UEMBI into possession, the CLCI and Mr English represented to him that the latter had authority to negotiate, conclude, sign, and bind the Applicant in relation to the tenancy.
He also said that before that agreement was executed, he had no notice, whether actual or constructive, that Mr English lacked authority to act on behalf of the CLCI “nor did I have any reason to suspect any internal irregularity, want of authority, defect of approval, struck-off status, or want of corporate capacity affecting the Applicant (CLCI).”
But the CLCI is also asking the court to take notice of the fact the UEMBI needed to seek permission from the Town Clerk.
Backed up by an affidavit from Lincoln Lewis, the CLCI seeks an order that construction at Lot XX1 Woolford Avenue by the UEMBI is in breach of the Georgetown Building by-laws, made under the Municipal and District Council Act Cap. 28:01 and construction by that university was not done in compliance with a lawfully approved plan.
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