USAG CALLS ON KNUST MANAGEMENT TO RESCIND THE DECISION TO ABOLISH JCR LEADERSHIP

: News; 30 August 2022

on the event of the unfortunate riots on knust campus on the 18th of august 2022, leadership of the university students association of ghana (usag) made several calls on the university management and stated unequivocally, especially in the media space for all students involved in the unscrupulous acts to be prosecuted and dealt with under the laws of this country. again, we render an unqualified apology to the university and the university management at large.

in the aftermath of the riot, we have seen the ghana police service under the command of the ashanti regional police commander dcop mr. afful boakye- yiadom, and the ashanti regional minister hon. simon osei-mensah making active efforts to restore calm and to enhance security on knust campus.
usag together with the nugs president swiftly begun engagements with the leadership of the jcrc of both unity hall and the university hall, with our focus on drawing up a blueprint on how to redeem students and the image of student leadership and to rebuild the trust that has been lost over the years.

unfortunately, in the course of our engagement, the university council of knust at their meeting held on friday 26th august, 2022 based on the report from the fact-finding committee referred to council by the executive committee of the university, recommended the complete abolishment of the jcr system of leadership in all the traditional halls of residence in knust, alongside some other recommendations on the matter, the latter of which we find very auspicious.
to begin with, the decision to abolish the jcr system is a decision that we strongly believe is too harsh and will not yield the expected results for which it is being implemented. for parents hoping to nurture the managerial and entrepreneurial skills of your students, we plead that you do not deprive us of such life-time experiences of being nurtured for the future.we further acknowledge that this decision taken allows for enough time for redemption and a review ahead of its proposed period of implementation. and we hope tho take advantage of the given time window.
usag and for that matter, the university managements of the various universities in ghana is on a conscious effort to make university education in ghana very attractive to the diaspora, and as well to holistically develop the university student for nation building and to allow them the opportunity of

living better lives for them. however, it is very alarming that over the weekeend i had an awakening call from a former student leader of knust. it was very disheartening to hear him recount his ordeals of having to answer questions on why knust students are very rowdy and why all student leaders in knust are corrupt. he left the interview room with a clearly prejudiced impression formed in the minds of the panel. now, will every other knust student and student leaders have to go through similar ordeals? does this posture of the university not defeat the purpose of its own existence when products from the university will have to endure this prejudice due to decisions made on the account of the errors of a very negligible minority of students?

we will not act ignorant of the various actions of students which have led to the current situtation in which we find ourselves. subsequently after the release, usag has engaged the pro-vice chancellor of the university, prof. ellis owusu-dabo, the director of student affairs and his deputy, prof. wilson agyei agyare and prof. otchere addai-mensah respectively. we acknowledge their cooperation to engage leadership of the association on a very short notice. notwithstanding all that is happening, one point every one of our engagements yielded was the fact that the mistakes of a few leaders donot define all student

leaders in the university and that there have been very exceptional student leaders in knust. these leaders have contributed meaningfully to the advancement of life changing policies of the university such as the sonsol project and several other.

the university relations office's posture of drawing media attention to all issues bordering on students and student leadership is deeply weakening the image of the university and her students. this is gradually blurring the images of the bright future that we have been promised, with a potential of messing up our future today just because of the offences of a few minority who do not form even 1% of the student population. if the university relations office's approach of gaining negative publicity on all student issues in the university is not addressed, what prospects will there be for our graduates?.

facts worthy of note

in the particular instance of the recent clash, this same leadership of the hall jcr reached out to the security services of the university to prompt them about an alleged impending attack. management failed to respond accordingly and in the video

circulating, you could see only one police vehicle which retreated when the rioting begun and made no attempt to curb the situation.

the hall jcr had no role to play in the rioting and on this instance; the judgement passed on them has no locus on the issue at hand.
the infiltration of certain alumni into the halls and on campus is not the responsibility of hall jcr members. in one recurring instance in unity hall, a certain past student has consistently assaulted jcr executives who try to ask him out of the hall for two successive years. yet with security men at post this person always finds his way into the hall to attack students. why then must the same executives who have sacrificed their peace and safety in this instance be made to pay for the failures of the system to protect their students and to maintain law and order in the university community.
the knust university management by this decision seems to have resorted to punishing the entire students for their shortcoming. firstly with the decision to convert all single-sex halls as a means of curbing the situation between the two male halls. this did not yield any positive results and now the decision to abolish jcrs completely. in the undesired occurrence of any future altercations, will

management then have to close down all halls of

residence?

hall jcr executives have served a very critical role in

MENTORING AND GUIDING FIRST YEAR STUDENTS, MAJORITY OF WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED MEANINGFULLY TO THE GOOD IMAGE OF THE SCHOOL. SEVERAL INSTANCES CAN BE CITED WHERE JCRS HAVE ENSURED THE SAFETY OF students and averted situations which could have BEEN VERY DETRIMENTAL TO THE IMAGE OF THE SCHOOL.

THE HALL MANAGEMENT UNLIKE THE JCRS SERVES A TERM OF TWO YEARS SUBJECT TO RENEWAL, WHEREAS JCR EXECUTIVES SERVE A TERM OF 8 MONTHS. HOW THEN DO WE INSTITUTE PUNITIVE MEASURES AGAINST A GROUP THAT HAS HAD LESS TIME TO DEAL WITH A LONG PERSISTING PROBLEM AS AGAINST ADMINISTRATIONS VESTED WITH THE AUTHORITY TO DEAL WITH THIS PROBLEM OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME.

OUR PROPOSAL

IN OUR OPINION, IT WILL BE BETTER TO HAVE A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO CAN BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTIONS OF A LARGER GROUP THAN TO LEAVE THE ENTIRE GROUP WITH NO SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY. WE PROPOSE A BETTER STRUCTURED JCR SYSTEM, WHICH WILL INCULCATE THESE "KNOWN" OPINION LEADERS AND ASSIGN TO THEM MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES OF RE-ORIENTING THEIR MEMBERSHIP TOWARDS CURBING A FURTHER OCCURRENCE OF SUCH

MISHAPS.

TAKING AWAY THE HALL JCRS WILL ALLOW FRESHMEN IN THE HALL TO BE INFLUENCED BY SOME FACELESS INDIVIDUALS, SINCE STUDENTS ARE MORE LIKELY TO LISTEN TO THEIR PEERS AND NOT TO LECTURERS.

THERE SHOULD BE A BETTER STRUCTURED ALUMNI SYSTEM, POSSIBLY WITH AN OFFICE SPACE WITHIN THE HALL AND A SELECTED REPRESENTATIVE WHO WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR FLUSHING OUT THE INVOLVEMENT OF ANY UNSCRUPULOUS PERSONS WHO WILL INFILTRATE ACTIVITIES OF THE HALL IN THE NAME OF ALUMNI. THE OPINION LEADERS WITHIN THE HALL WILL REPORT DIRECTLY TO THESE RECOGNIZED ALUMNI REPRESENTATIONS.
THE UNIVERSITY'S POLICY OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS ESPECIALLY IN THE MEDIA SPACE MUST BE CRITICALLY REVIEWED AS IT POSES A HUGE THREAT TO THE FUTURE OF ALL STUDENTS WHO WISH TO ENROL IN KNUST.

CONCLUSION

TEMPORAL REACTIVE DECISIONS SUCH AS THE DISSOLUTION OF JCRS WILL NOT YIELD ANY SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM, WHICH HAS NOW BECOME AN ISSUE OF NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT. THE UNIVERSITY'S APPROACH OF PUNISHING ALL STUDENTS FOR THE SHORTCOMINGS OF A SELECT FEW HAS NOT AND WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM AT HAND. MORE RESOLUTIONS SHOULD BE CHANELLED INTO PUNISHING THE REAL CULPRITS OF THESE VICES ON CAMPUS.

IF THIS CONTINUES, WE FEAR FOR THE FUTURE OF ALL GRADUATES FROM KNUST IN RECENT YEARS AS THE GROWING PUBLIC SENTIMENTS AND PREJUDICE WILL CURTAIL SEVERAL LIFE-CHANGING OPPORTUNITIES AND JOBS FOR STUDENTS.
ALL STAKEHOLDERS INCLUDING RELIGIOUS AND PRESSURE GROUPS ON CAMPUS MUST BEGIN TO DRAW THEIR ROADMAP TOWARDS RE-ORIENTING THEIR MEMBERS WHO INVOLVE THEMSELVES IN THESE RETROGRESSIVE ACTIONS ON CAMPUS.
WE ANTICIPATE THE UNIVERSITY WILL CONSIDER ALTERNATIVES WHICH WILL INURE TO THE BENEFIT OF ALL MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY. AGAIN, ALL STRUCTURES THAT HAVE FAILED TO DELIVER ON THEIR MANDATE IN CURBING THESE OCCURENCES MUST DEVELOP NEW ROADMAPS TOWARDS ADDRESSING THE ISSUE. THE JCR ALONE CANNOT CURB THE PROBLEM.
FINALLY, WE ASK THAT THE DECISION ON THE ABOLISHMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY'S JCR SYSTEM FOR THE 2023/24 ACADEMIC YEAR BE REVIEWED AND CHANGED SUBSEQUENTLY AS THE BENFITS AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY IS UNPARALLELED. WE MUST REGAIN THE TRUST THAT WE HAVE LOST FROM OUR PARENTS ON CAMPUS. WE HOPE TO BE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO REDEEM OURSELVES AND TO MAKE BETTER THE UNIVERSITY FOR OUR FUTURE'S SAKE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR AUDIENCE.

SOURCE…WWW.SOMPAONLINE.COM/eric Murphy asare

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