UDS STUDENTS CONTINUE TO BOYCOTT LECTURES (PAGE 11)

STUDENTS of the Wa campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) continue to boycott lectures in solidarity with their suspended central Students Representative Council (SRC) President, Mr Alphonse Naab and the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) Secretary, Mr Owusu Aboagye.
The boycott followed a five-hour protest by the students last Monday through the principal streets of the Wa Municipality to register their disapproval of actions of the university authorities.
Many people in the municipality thought the march was a pre-Valentine Day celebration by the students as they were all clad in red until they saw them carrying placards some of which read “UDS authorities stop developing your pockets”, “VC must go”, “We want Naab” and “UDS we need proper libraries and not book corners”.
Led by their central Vice SRC Secretary, Mr Ignatius Akubire Awaafo, the students marched, chanted and danced from the central administration of the university through the principal streets of Wa to the offices of the Upper West Regional Co-ordinating Council where they presented their petition to the President of the Republic, Prof. J. E. A. Mills.
They expressed their disappointment and dismay at the action of the acting Vice Chancellor of the UDS, Prof. Sagary Nokoe, describing it as illegitimate, autocratic and unconstitutional.
The petition recalled events that led to the suspension of Mr Naab and Mr Aboagye, saying, “By the petition dated October 15, 2008 and which was copied to the VC, the student leaders were only asking for a mitigation of the problems confronting UDS students.”
It was therefore pathetic for the management of the university to suspend students’ leaders when they asked for what was due the entire student body, the petition stated.
Students kept paying money under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), but they were yet to enjoy the service, while there was no computer laboratory and lecture halls, public address systems, among other facilities, it added.
The petition said the decision by the leadership of the SRC to demand certain facilities for the students was in the right direction as they hit the nail right on the head.
“We have used all internal measures to see to an amicable solution to the impasse and to see to the revocation of the suspension of these student leaders but to no avail hence the decision to embark on this demonstration,” the petition explained.
We, therefore, appeal to President Mills to quickly intervene to help in the reinstatement of the two suspended SRC leaders, the petition stated.
Mr Awaafo announced that the students were boycotting lectures from Wednesday until they had heard from the President, stressing that they would proceed to the court of law if they did not receive any response.
The Upper West Regional Co-ordinating Director, Mr David Yakubu, who received the petition on behalf of the President, commended the students for going about their demonstration peacefully and promised to forward their concerns to President Mills.
Meanwhile, some of the students who spoke to the Daily Graphic expressed disappointment at how such a trivial issue could be allowed to degenerate to the point of disrupting academic activities.
The students have, therefore, appealed to all stakeholders in education, particularly the committee of Vice Chancellors of Ghana, to prevail on their colleague, Prof. Nokoe, to resolve the issue amicably by reinstating the two students to ensure peace.