Aspirants for executive positons in the University of Ghana Student Representative Council (UGSRC) 2024 elections have expressed disappointment with the UGSRC Electoral Commission over another postponement of the vetting of nominated aspirants.
This postponment would be the third of its kind, this time attributed to the absence of some members of the vetting panel.
In a communique released on 25th July 2024, the Electoral commission enunciated its initial postponement of the SRC vetting proceedure due to unforseen financial constraints.
Again, On July 30th, 2024, the Electoral Commission officially announced a postponement of the vetting procedure indicating that the decision was necessary due to inadequate arrangement for security by the commission, the Legon security and the Ghana police.
Following this release, the Electoral commissioner announced a rescheduled date; Friday, 2nd August 2024 at the University of Ghana Computing Systems (UGCS) Conference room. But again, the vetting failed to happen.
Speaking to Univers News, some UGSRC aspirants described the situation as disheartening, with their opinion calling the ‘uncertain’ behavior of the commission a challenge to their academics.
“…we went there and we got disappointed again, most of the panelists didn’t come on board, we have about eight panelists but as we went there, there were only three people who showed up, only three of the panelists showed up and it was very disheartening.” said Martin Agbefia, running mate for UGSRC presidential aspirant, Blessing Mante.
“Most of us are not happy with the happenings going on because I for instance, I have an exam tomorrow and I have to forfeit my exam and go for the vetting…… so it’s a whole lot of conundrum on my head but it’s all about service to the students.”
According to Martin, the aspirants lodged their complaints to the Dean of students, resulting in the decision to ultimately postpone the procedure to August 3rd, 2024.
“So, in the evening we [all the aspirants] went to see the dean and we lodged our complaints to her and she has decided that if that is the case, you know we are in examination period too. If that’s the case then she’s going to select some people, some tutors to handle it, with the three panelists that came today so they quickly set tomorrow as the vetting day for us.”
Following the multiple postponments and disruptions of the vetting procedure and the UGSRC Elections calendar, the EC has pledged to communicate the way forward in the near future to avoid more of these inconveniences.
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Story by: Vannessa Nyasi Mensah | univers.ug.edu.gh
