USAG CONCERNED ABOUT EFFECTIVE DISENFRANCHISEMENT OF GHANAIAN STUDENTS BY EC

03/05/ 2016

STATEMENT FROM THE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION OF GHANA  (USAG) TO THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION  (EC) OF GHANA

We write to register our concerns over the ongoing limited registration exercise which we are afraid is not designed to encourage or allow eligible Ghanaians who are students to register to vote in 2016.

The Commission has set a 10-day period for this limited registration exercise, starting from April 28 to May 8. We are already half way through the exercise and per our calculations, less than 10 percent of the estimated number of young Ghanaian students eligible to vote has been able to so far register. If this trend continues, we are afraid it will amount effectively to an administrative decision taken by the EC that has only led to disenfranchising the majority of young Ghanaian students who have come of age to vote. This would be a tragedy against our democracy.

Currently, over 100,000 Ghanaian students across campuses up and down the country are facing challenges just trying to register.  This is because the EC has either failed to provide registration centres on some campuses or chosen to not provide adequate registration kits on campus to facilitate the process.

We have had instances where students have had to queue for days without success, whiles having to respond to the natural pressures of revising for exams.

For instance, the University of Ghana, Legon, has about 28,000 students on campus and most of them are in the qualifying category to register. However the whole Legon Campus community has only one registration center.

The Mampong campus of the University of Education has no registration centre on campus. The students have access to a centre inconveniently situated outside of the campus. 

Also, the highly populated Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology has not a single registration centre on campus. Students wanting to register have to trek outside of campus to do so.

Indeed, there is not a single tertiary institution in Ghana which has not been inconvenienced by the way the EC has chosen to conduct this exercise. Indeed, students are even compelled by the circumstances to conclude that it appears the EC has deliberately done things in this way to discourage them from registering to vote. 

This perception is very unfortunate and needless. It was avoidable because the EC knows from experience and from its own expectation to register 1.2 million people that the highest concentration of  the targeted group for the limited registration exercise are to be found on campuses across the country. So in deciding to distribute 3,500 registration kits across the country it ought to have positively discriminated in favour of students and deployed more than the usual number to campuses. 

In this regard we entreat the EC to as a matter of urgency:

1. Extend the days for the limited voter registration exercise on our campuses across the country and;

2. Increase the number of registration kits available on  campuses to facilitate speedy and smooth process. 

This we believe will make the limited voter registration exercise meaningful and inclusive to achieve the goal of enfranchising new eligible voters. The EC cannot claim to be registering Ghanaians who have come of age when at the same time it has put together a process that effectively prevents people from registering or frustrates their efforts to so do.  This is most odd, indeed.

It is our expectation that the Commission will treat this matter with the urgency, efficiency and professionalism it deserves. Ghanaian students have a constitutional duty and right to play their full part in determining how our nation is governed. To take this away is to effectively cause a coup against our collective constitutional right and duty.

……signed……

Henry Nkosuo Boakye 

President, University Students' Association of Ghana(USAG)

+233 246 018 003

Pamela Ohemaa Sarpomaa Dwomoh

General Secretary, USAG

USAG ON GOVERNMENT'S DECISION TO DENY IT'S CONSTITUENTS READING "NURSING" IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES EMPLOYMENT.

The unshared attention of the Leadership of the University Students' Association of Ghana (USAG) has been drawn to a Government's decision to officially deny students reading "NURSING" in Private Universities employment opportunities in the State Owned Medical Outfits.

We at USAG, which is an official mouthpiece of all universities, both Traditional(government) and Private, see this decision of the government as clearly discriminatory, selective and intimidating to Ghanaian students reading "NURSING" in Private Universities in their motherland Ghana.

We therefore appeal to the government to willingly reconsider this decision, since its rippling ramifications can be a direct threat to national security.

We are humbly pleading with the government to officially review this perilous posture with total expedition because of the following reasons ;

Ø  Private University Students are also Ghanaians either by birth, marriage or documented adoption.

Ø  The authorities and owners of Private Universities contribute to the development of Ghana by paying of 25% Corporate Tax annually.

Ø  The Parents of Private University Students willingly pay various taxes, which adds up to the development index of Ghana.

Ø  Private University Students pay various taxes directly and indirectly to the Ghanaian government.

Ø  Nursing students in Private Universities are also of the same quality and value as those in Traditional Universities, because the lecturers that train those in the Government Universities are the same lecturers who teach at Private Universities and the same accreditation board grants accreditation to all of them; be it private or public..

Ø  This unfortunate decision will not only hinder national development but will cause a huge brain-drain and Ghana will have no moral right to speak against it since the people involved will not be seeking greener pasture abroad but pasture, since there is no pasture for them in Ghana .

For these reasons, we will not and can never accept this outlandish segregation levelled against nursing students who are trained in Private Universities.

As a country we believe "Education is the key to national development", so why are we treating the educated as a threat to the development of the Ghanaian community.

Finally, we want to accentuate that, the National Cake of Ghana, is constitutionally for all Ghanaians, and any spell of selectiveness, segregation and discrimination will not be accepted, hence we call on the government to redress this injustice, inequality and outright disrespect for the constitution of Ghana, which also determines their election and appointments to lead this country.

University Education; A Key To National Development

God bless USAG! God bless our homeland Ghana!!

...Signed.....

USAG WOCOM VEHEMENTLY CONDEMNS THE SHOCKING KNUST SEX SCANDAL.

04/05/16

PRESS RELEASE 

The unshared attention of the Women's Commissioner of the University Students' Association of Ghana has been drawn to an overly detestable, abominable and obnoxious sex video circulating on various social media platforms. 

Unfortunately, the actors of the shameful video happen to be students of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, meaning they are bonafied constituents of USAG. 

I vehemently castigate, vilify and condemn such ordeal and call on the various security forces in the country to attend to this perilous behaviour which is gaining momentum in Ghana lately. 

Ghana is globally known for her standard of morals, values and virtues, in other to maintain this enviable trademark, I plead with security forces to be more expeditious with their duties regarding this issue and as a matter of urgency, bring the culprits to order. 

This will serve as a preventive standard to all. 

Finally, I appeal to all my female constituents to be humongously cautious with their sexual life and who they entrust their privacy.

............SIGNED...........

NANCY OWUSU KWARTEMAA

WOMEN'S COMMISSIONER 

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION OF GHANA (USAG)

0246029671