Bain wanted to resign

The claim that Professor Brendan Bain has not been paid by the University of West Indies, Mona (UWI), for the period October 2014 to January 2015 has been denied by Archibald Campbell, bursar of UWI.

He was responding to questions by Professor Bain's lawyer Georgia Gibson Henlin. The bursar said that the professor had received an overpayment and that was the reason he was not paid for the period. He said he sent a letter to Professor Bain about the overpayment and also spoke to him personally about it.

Professor Bain, whose two-year contract was terminated in May 2010, has sued the university for breach of contract. It is being contended that the was fired after he gave an expert report in 2012 for church groups in Belize which had opposed a gay man's challenge to the buggery law.

Dereck Springer, director of Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV & AIDS (PANCAP), tendered an expert report outlining the role and objectives of PANCAP. He said in the report that PANCAP's primary obligation is to help to reduce the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS in Pan-Caribbean region. He said the group advocates for the reduction of stigma, the elimination of discrimination, the removal of discriminatory laws and affirming human rights.

Professor E. Nigel Harris, Vice Chancellor of the UWI, denied suggestions that Professor Bain was fired because of his expert testimony in the buggery case in Belize. He said the UWI did not fire the professor because of pressure from the human rights group Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition. He said he sent a letter to the group on April 28 last year advising that Professor Bain was entitled to a fair hearing.

Rescinded decision to resign

He explained that the decision the UWI took to terminate the contract came after eight months of discussions with leaders in public health and international agencies and organisations. He lists consultants from the United Nations and the Pan-Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS, PANCAP, among those with whom the UWI held discussions.

Professor Harris disclosed that Professor Bain said, at a meeting they had in May, that he was going to resign but he later sent an email rescinding his decision to resign. He said Professor Bain had a lawyer with him when he gave his word that he was going to resign and the lawyer said "I should give him (Bain) time to consider it". He said he was very "put off" by the withdrawal of the resignation because he knew Professor Bain for 30 years, as they have been friends and he had given his word. "When I handed him the termination letter, I said Brendan you gave me your word and your word is your bond."