NUGS UNITY CONGRESS 2012 IN RETROSPECT

 The 46^th annual residential delegate congress of the National union of Ghana students  (NUGS) was officially opened at the conference room of the great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST, Kumasi on the theme “funding of tertiary education; a private or public responsibility.

The congress, which was scheduled to take place from, the 8^th-12^th of August 2012, was dubbed “NUGS unity congress 2012” and essentially brought together leaders of the two NUGS factions: Peter K .Kodjie and Osman Ayariga Abdulai to forge a common front. Also In attendance was delegates and student leaders from across the nation’s tertiary institutions including, Ghana institute of Journalism (GIJ). The purpose of the gathering was to elect national officers to steer the union’s affairs for the 2012/2013 academic year, as well as elect representatives to the student loan trust fund (SLTF), and the National youth authority (NYA) boards and deliberate on issues which are pertinent to students welfare.

As part of the program, members observed a minute silence in memory of our late President, Professor. J.E.A Mills .It was also expected that a communiqué would be issued at the end of the congress on the theme.

The special guest of honor at the opening ceremony on the 9^th of August, 2012.Hon. Mahama Ayariga, deputy education minister was represented by the Ashanti Regional Director of education, Mr. Joseph Kwabena Onyina who spoke briefly on the theme of the congress and the importance of tertiary education to the overall development of the individual. While bemoaning student leaders and for that matter, tertiary students to be innovative in order to generate ideas that will engender the growth and development of our nation .He was quick to add his voice to the current NUGS impasse by commending National officers for taking a bold step to unify the student front.

Peter K. Kodjie and Osman Ayariga, presidents of the two NUGS factions for the 2011/2012 academic year, when given the opportunity were singing virtually the same song, having acknowledged the fact that leading a broken union was embarrassing and challenging. Indeed, they indicated that their credibility was usually put to a litmus test anytime they appear to represent Ghanaian students on national events. They were also not happy about the current state of the union, including the fact that the union does not have a permanent secretariat and the reality that the student front is bedeviled with myriad of challenges. However, they were grateful to Ghanaian students for exhibiting tolerance to the two factions and to all who contributed to the unity process.

The chairperson at the opening ceremony, Mr.Rester Togormey, former GRASAG president was not happy of the current state of the union, but was optimistic that NUGS can relive its former glory and this he added can only happen if we refrain from pushing our personal agenda above that of the larger students out there.

There were also fraternal messages from the blocs of NUGS such as GUPS, USAG, GRASAG, PUSAG, TTAG, and Regional SRC. Despite the late start of the opening ceremony, coupled with the poor allocation of rooms for delegates, it was our hope that subsequent events will be smooth and peaceful, but it was never meant to be.

According to NUGS Katanga Accord Watchdogs.”The 46^th annual delegates congress of the National union of Ghana students (NUGS),held at KNUST ,Kumasi was from abi initio a flop as National officers demonstrated gross disrespect ,intransigence and ineptitude towards the very people from whom they derived their mandate. Beyond the unpredictable security situation (ignited after machete was found in a National officer’s car on the day of elections) and the unashamed abuse of the constitution, some National executives at the time were alleged to have been massaging the voters list to favor their preferred choice”.

It is also worthy to note that, the central committee (CC) meeting which was scheduled at 7pm on the 9^th of August, 2012 to rectify the electoral commission, the audit committee as well as consider the secretariat and vetting committee reports among others could not come off as planned. This eventually became a reality the following day, August 10, 2012 at 3pm.

This repeated delays of scheduled programs ,including voting coupled with the tense atmosphere created before voting by the factionalized NUGS leadership and their attempt to subvert the supreme mandate of Ghanaian students necessitated 38 SRC and Local NUGS Presidents to step in to salvage the situation.

Indeed, the congress eventually grinded to a halt at the late hours of Sunday, August 12, 2012  after 38 SRC and Local NUGS Presidents of member institutions, in a crunch meeting ,passed a resolution ,at the University Hall ,Katanga to suspend the National officers and retrieve all assets of the union in their possession as well as halt congress.

To this end, the NUGS Katanga accord empowered a 7-member interim management committee (IMC) to see to the election of National officers within the shortest possible time and demand accountability on the part of National officers for a more committed union to fight the plight of Ghanaian students devoid of greed, hatred, partisan interest and Mephistophelian machinations.

Beyond this report, I recommend:

·        That the IMC and for that matter the Ghana police service, must take remedial steps to investigate the allegations surrounding the role Mr. Samuel Mante, former NUGS Projects and Programs Secretary played in the hiring of “macho men “to intimidate delegates at the congress.

·        Then again, allegation that suspended General Secretary, Mr.Tafhim Gbonta was carrying brand new cutlasses in his car on elections day; must not be put to sleep, but investigated thoroughly so that if found culpable, he be made to face the full rigors of the law.

·        In the near future, standing security personnel should be put in place to forestall the tension generated by supporters of the two leading Presidential candidates, Mr. Jude D. Sekley and Mr. Andrews Kofi Gyan (Agya) especially the gross indiscipline exhibited by the jama group, Royal Bobo Kingdom of University of Professional Studies. (UPS)

·        In addition, the practice of delegates eating their lunch at 6pm and supper at 11-12pm must never be allowed to repeat itself.

·        Lastly, the Electoral Commission of Ghana must be invited to take charge of the union’s elections, as a remedy to National officer’s attempt at massaging the voters list to favor their preferred candidates.

Steve Kubate Salifu

GIJ Local NUGS and GUPS Secretary.

                      

G .I .J STUDENTS DESERVE BETTER

 

Ghana institute of journalism is undoubtedly Ghana’s foremost, renowned and leading communication training institute which produces journalists, PR practitioners and other communication specialists for the media industry in Ghana and beyond.

This exhibition of excellence in the delivery of its core mandate to the people of Ghana has resulted in the production and discovery of stupendous alumni which includes; Kwesi Pratt Jnr(Editor, The Insight Newspaper), Kwaku Sakyi-Addo(Head, Telecoms chamber, Ghana), Ibrahim Awal (Former MD, Graphic communications Group Limited ,and Publisher of the Finder Newspaper )  ,Anas Aremeyaw Anas(Multiple Award- Winning investigative journalist), Gifty Anti ( News Anchor, GTV), Ransford Tetteh(GJA President, and Editor of Daily Graphic),Andrews Awuni(Former Press Secretary to Former President J.A Kuffuor) and a host of others.

Undoubtedly, these alumni have exhibited excellence in their various fields of Endeavour, to the extent that some of us, if not all looked up to them before considering GIJ as a place to further our education. Rather unfortunately, recent events emanating from this  renowned institute ,if care is not taken will dash away the hopes of hundreds of potentially good materials from pursuing courses in this institute obviously because of funding.

I write this article with a heavy heart, but all the same to add my voice to the numerous concerns raised by students, parents, guardians and alumni of our dear institute with regards the high rocketing fees been paid by students, particularly fee-paying students for the 2012/2013 academic year.

Indeed, this issue I am putting across is my candid opinion on genuine concerns raised by students of this institute. I therefore do not expect to attract odium for merely expressing my candid opinion on issues affecting the generality of GIJ students as it’s an extension of our intellectual discourse.

Frankly speaking, the review of the fees for the academic year 2012/2013 raises fundamental concerns of unfairness, which I will subject to scrutiny in the paragraphs that follow.

First, there is no denying the fact that, L 200 and L 400 fee-paying students are paying Gh₵1,700 as against Gh₵ 748 and Gh₵ 400 by the regular L 200 and L 400 students respectively. Equally imperative, is the fact that Diploma 2 fee-paying students are paying GH₵ 1,400 as against GH₵693 by the regular diploma students.

It is also worrying, that in a little under 12 months, fees of L 100 students have shot up astronomically from GH₵ 1,700 -1,800 for fee-paying students and from GH₵ 800-900 for regular students and from GH₵ 1,400-1,500 for diploma fee-paying students as against GH₵ 700-800 for regular diploma 1 students.

Comrades of our great institute, having laid bare some of the legitimate concerns with regards our financial obligation to GIJ , am pretty sure majority of you will agree with me that its time pragmatic measures are put in place to curtail these draconian policies ,which have become an albatross on the neck of GIJ students. Obviously money is hard to come by these days, and I can only imagine what is going through the minds of many of you, particularly fee-paying students. Sadly! The troubles of the last semester are not yet over, but just beginning.

My fellow compatriots, a careful perusal of the fees, equally reveal a dangerous attempt to discriminate against a section of GIJ students. Indeed, I cannot fathom why regular students are enjoying a drastic reduction in their fees whereas fee-paying students are not enjoying the same relief. For example L200 regular students are benefitting from a whopping GH₵ 52.00 reduction where as fee-paying students are not enjoying even a pesewa reduction. Honestly, this is unfair, discriminatory and to a larger extent STRANGE!  This is obviously very strange, if for nothing at all, L100 (now L200) fee-paying students were supplied I.D  cards under the same cost structure last year ,which they are not paying for again and thus, should enjoy some relief . That notwithstanding, I appreciate the fact that certain components of the fees, for example SRC dues may have seen an upwards adjustment, and that may have accounted for the non-reduction .Be that it may, I think it’s time our fees is broken into its components, so that we can subject it to serious scrutiny.

Then again, I must say that having worked closely with the current SRC executives under the able leadership of Raymond Bayor. I am fully aware of the efforts they have made towards giving regular students that unprecedented reduction in their fees and unfortunately sustained the fees of fee-paying student, while commending them for their effort and intervention. I believe they can still do more. If for nothing at all, one legacy they can leave behind is to resist this 75% upfront payment of fees before registration is allowed.

It also saddens my heart, to say that if this draconian policy is allowed to pass. L200 and 400 fee-paying students will have to pay GH₵1,275.00 before registering while their diploma counterparts will pay GH₵ 1,050.00. Equally worrying, is the fact that L100 and Diploma 1 students will be paying GH₵ 1,350.00 and GH₵ 1,125.00 before registering.

Comrades of our beloved institute, education as a right not a privilege should not merely exist in policy documents but must be seen to be observed by state or public institutions to the letter for “our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource “John F. Kennedy. Let’s therefore run away from policies that stifle the efforts of the poor from attaining higher education.

While not holding brief for the management of GIJ, I think the government of the day must also step up its game by increasing its subventions to GIJ. Truly, I don’t think our fees would have been that high if the government meets the budgetary requirements of our beloved institute.        

As rightly indicated by Ayn Rand (1905-1982) “you can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality “. The phenomenal and unparalleled payment of gargantuan fees should be a source of worry to us all as GIJ students- whether you can pay or not. We must therefore all get involved to re-ignite debate on our fees, so that stakeholders can find lasting solutions to this canker-worm, because the difference between ‘involvement’ and ‘commitment’ is like an egg-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was ‘involved’-the pig was ‘committed’. I REST MY CASE.

STEVE KUBATE SALIFU

President, Sutherland Hall.

 

Press Statement

Press Conference of The Mensah Sarbah hall Junior Common Room on The Alleged manhandle of Amina Haruna Addressed by Mr. Edward Tutor President of Mensah Sarbah Hall Junior Common on Wednesday, 17 July, 2012 at The Christian Reading Room at Mensah Sarbah Hall, University of Ghana, Legon

National Executive Officers of the; National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS); University Students Association of Ghana (USAG); Executive Committee Members of the Student Representative Council (SRC); Friends from the Media; Colleague Students here gathered; Ladies and Gentlemen Good Morning.

JCR President Edward Tutor in the middle

In the course of this PRESS CONFERENCE, the Student Leadership of Mensah Sarbah Hall, Students Representative Council (SRC) of University of Ghana, Legon and the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) do not seek to justify in anyway the incident as committed. However, we want to tell Ghanaians of the injustice that has been perpetuated by the University of Ghana Management; some gender advocates, the Media and the Police Service.

The JCR of Mensah Sarbah Hall condemns in strong terms the incident that took place at Mensah Sarbah Hall Annex B on the 30^th of March, 2011 where an alleged thief was manhandled. The JCR however believes that in the pursuance of justice, further injustices should not be perpetrated and that innocent people should NOT be made to pay for the crime perpetrated by others. The Junior Common Room would also like to register the fact that right from the onset we were of the firm conviction that our colleagues were innocent but the management of the University of Ghana failed to have conducted a very thorough investigation with regards to the incident in question.

Some Student Leaders across the country

Friends from the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, the JCR is highly dissatisfied with the nature of investigations that landed our innocent colleagues in court. We will like to bring to the notice of all Ghanaians that our colleagues partook in an identification parade carried out by the Ghana Police service where the alleged thief was made to identify the culprits. The alleged thief therefore went ahead to pinpoint innocent students who were detained and paraded before court for alleged involvement in the sexual molestation.

National Executive Officers of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Colleague students here gathered, Friends of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, we believe that any issues reported in the media should be informative, accurate, balance, verified and clarified. In as much as we appreciate the level of alacrity and attention shown by the media, we are immeasurably disappointed in the fallacious stories propagated by some media houses such as the Daily Guide News Paper, which published on the 10^th of May, 2011 that” There is a manhunt for four Legon students who were actively involved in the indecent act were on the run and that they have even relented from writing their semester exams”.

Friends from the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, the JCR will like to put on record that no student has been on the run and that, the alleged students mentioned to have absconded wrote their semester exams and their results are even showing boldly on the MIS WEB of the University. Good people of Ghana, this is a grievous crime. If we are committed to building a very noble country with a thriving Media presence our men and women in the business must exhibit good faith and professionalism.

We also want to state that, our respected colleagues since charged have been punctual at the court whiles the prosecution keeps on praying the court to adjourn the case and the prosecution has patronized the venture of adjournment for the past 15 months until our colleagues were discharged on the 10^th of July, 2012.

Friends of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, the JCR sees the action of the Management of University of Ghana in the suspension of the alleged students as a wrong decision in respect of the fact that the institution failed to conduct a very fair, judicious, and thorough investigation before arriving at the culprits. The University suspended six of our colleagues for assaulting the alleged thief based on the reason that the alleged students have marred the image of the school. 

Friends of the Media, Colleague Students, Ladies and Gentlemen, the JCR believes that the University did not act in good faith in their quest to protect their image they released the students on an unfair ground.

Thankful enough that the circuit court of this country has vindicated the 13 students on grounds of want of no prosecution last week Tuesday.

National Executive Officers of NUGS, Friends of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, we want to appeal to the Management of the University of Ghana to re-instate our suspended colleagues on the ground that, the Prosecutor and the Court of competent jurisdiction of this Republic have failed to produce evidence against our colleagues and the Circuit Court has discharged our innocent colleagues.

National Officers of NUGS; USAG, Colleague Student Leaders, Friends of the Media, Ladies and Gentleman  we will not fail to drum home the innocence of our colleagues and we want the University of Ghana Management to do the noble thing by re-instating our brothers without fail.

Friends of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, we thank you for your presence and we hope your good faith and professionalism will be the testament of a very robust relationship between the National Student Leadership and you.