Interim Publications Committee of the Head of Legon Hall at the University of Ghana, Benjamin Aboagye has lamented the short duration allotted to the electoral commission and Junior Common Room of the Alexander Adum Kwapong Hall in the conduct of their election.
The Dean of Student Affairs on February 15, 2023, directed the electoral commission of the University of Ghana Student Representative Council to conduct a fresh election for the Hall ‘no later than 28th February 2023’ after two years of not having a recognized JCR leadership.
Speaking on Campus Exclusive on Tuesday, February 28, 2023, Benjamin Aboagye said the duration for the conduct of the election was too short which did not give the stakeholders in the election to prepare well.
”Formerly, you can say that there hasn’t been much time if you consider the fact that things have really delayed and that if you want to have a JCR, to be functioning for this academic year. you could say generally that the whole process has been late and can see that the EC management of the hall decided to speed up things a little just so that the residents have a working JCR to attend to their issues but I feel that it may have been a rushed and it didn’t give the candidates nor the EC’s enough time to plan.”
The Former Deputy University of Ghana Student Representative Council Public Relations Officer, Solomon Hagan also said the limited time for the conduct of the elections was beyond the Electoral Commission’s capabilities to make any further arrangements. He believes that although the time is short, candidates can make good use of it and sell their ideas to the electorates.
”I believe that they could have been given ample time but this is a case where there has been a structure designed and approved by the dean of students and if you do not comply with it, you are going at your own risk. they really needed ample time to go through all this but I’m sure within these few time frames given to them, every personality on the ballot paper has been able to go through and present the ideas they would be able to bring on board to make sure Kwapong hall JCR is back again on track. So they’ve listened to them and their insightful decisions. So, let’s put the hall at heart and also the personality on the ballot papers” . He stated.
Residents of the Alexander Adum Kwapong will be electing new for the 2022/2023 academic year after two academic years of no student representation.
This was due to a former candidate seeking legal address in the court of law after being disqualified from participating in the second phase of the 2020/2021 hall election on basis of not meeting the 3.0 GPA criteria.
The online election will be conducted by the University of Ghana Computing Systems.
The election was postponed to Tuesday, February 28, 2023, after some candidates petitioned the electoral commission to be actively involved in the electoral process.
Story by: Nana Kwegyiriba Koomson | univers.ug.edu.gh
