The Dean of Students at the University of Ghana, Prof. Rosina Kyeremanteng has clarified that her office does not intend to take over the duties of the Electoral Commissioner of the University of Ghana Students Representative Council (UGSRC).
This clarification is integral as it comes at the back of the Dean taking charge of the vetting of aspirants for the various executive positions of the University of Ghana Students Representative Council (UGSRC) on Saturday 3rd August, 2024.
In an interview on Campus Exclusive, Dean of Student Affairs, Prof. Kyeremanteng mentioned that her office had to step in and conduct the vetting process for the aspirants citing the need for the vetting process to be conducted before the heat of the end of semester examinations.
“All the aspirants agreed that the vetting should happen before their exams. We will not take over, it is not our business to take over the duties of the Electoral Commissioner.”
The said vetting which was carried out by the Office of the Dean of student Affairs was as a result of the Electoral Commissioner’s failure to reach consensus with the Dean, Vice Dean and the aspirants to reschedule the vetting process for Saturday 3rd August, 2024 after the scheduled vetting on Friday 2nd August 2024 could not come off due to the absence of some members of the vetting panel.
According to Prof. Kyeremanteng, even though consultations and consensus was reached for the vetting of the aspirants to be organised before the examination period and be done on Friday the of 2nd August, 2024, only three members of the vetting panel showed up for the vetting process, leaving all the aspirants stranded and disappointed.
“Vice Dean, myself and the Electoral Commissioner had a meeting and the consensus was that, let’s have the vetting quickly before the aspirants start exams so that it will not interfere with the aspirants’ exam schedules. So it was agreed that the vetting should come off at UGCS. The EC was supposed to have informed the panelist who were responsible for the vetting and the aspirants.”
Recounting the happenings, the dean mentioned that after Friday’s vetting process could not come off, almost all the aspirants trooped into her office seeking her intervention; in an attempt to reach consensus for the vetting to be rescheduled and conducted the next day which was 3rd August, 2024, the Electoral Commissioner of the UGSRC, Mudassir Ibn walked out of the meeting with the aspirants, including the Dean and the Vice Dean and that necessitated the vetting of aspirants by the Dean.
“Friday, all these aspirants turned up from 9:00am and then, mind you, the EC had suggested much earlier that we ask one or two senior members to sit in so that the process will be transparent. We agreed, so Vice Dean invited one of the lecturers from Political Science to sit in. He was there, the aspirants were there only three of the vetting panelists turned up. They waited the whole day till 2:00pm or 3:00pm and they all trooped to my office because they were upset. You set a date, you inform the panelists and only 3 of them turn up.”
“The panelists were called, some did not answer, some of them were giving one excuse or the other. So if they knew they were not going to be available, why did they not inform the Electoral Commissioner before the Friday. So in the presence of the aspirants and the Electoral Commissioner, we decided, let’s come to a consensus, let’s do this tomorrow, senior members will sit in as observers and help with the process. Whiles we were all there talking, the Electoral Commissioner walked out. My office staff were there, the Vice Dean and the other aspirants. That is why we went ahead and did the vetting on Saturday.”
Prof. Rosina Kyeremanteng further established that the Constitution of the University of Ghana Student Representative Council (UGSRC) does not supersede the statutes of the University.
Conclusively, she was of the view that the electoral commission can go ahead and take charge of the Electoral processes, however advising the commissioner to remain neutral in his duties.
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Story by: Akwasi Gyamfi | univers.ug.edu.gh
