Old Commonwealth (Vandals) Members of Parliament from both Majority and Minority have called on authorities of University of Ghana to respect the order of the court and re-instate continuing students until the matter is finally determined.
At a News Conference in Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Rockson-Nelson Este Dafeamekpor, a National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for the South Dayi Constituency said: “We are calling on the university to respect the directives of the court for the continuing students to have peace of mind to engage in their academic work for which they were admitted for.”
The University of Ghana (UG) has revoked the tenancy of continuing students from the Commonwealth and Sarbah Halls as a punitive measure after clashes between some students of the two halls led to the destruction of the bust of John Mensah Sarbah, the historical figure after whom the Sarbah Hall was named.
According to the University, all continuing students of the Commonwealth Hall, an all-male hall and continuing male students of Mensah Sarbah Hall would not return to their halls nor any of the traditional halls.
But the students had expressed their displeasure about the move, insisting that the decision was ill-intended and posed financial challenges to them as the new halls offered them were extremely expensive.
Mr Dafeamekor, told the Parliamentary Press Corps that a disregard of the court order was punishable, and it was incumbent upon the authorities of UG to respect the court orders as the MPs did not want a situation whereby the authorities would be cited for contempt proceedings before the court of law.
…”Time is running out and so we raised the matter today on the floor and we think that it is important to engage the media.
“As a House and old students of the hall of UG who are elected representatives of the people of parliament of the republic of Ghana, we find it offensive, unacceptable and utterly abusive of power for the university authorities to disregard court orders, however, we are in the interim that is directing them to re-insate the continuing students pending the final determination of the action that is presently pending before court,” he said.
In a related development, reading a statement on the subject on the floor of the House, Dr Clement Abas Apaak, MP, Builsa South Constituency (NDC), criticized authorities of UG for seeking to destroy the spirit, culture and tradition of the Commonwealth Hall.
He alleged: “the university was not respecting the laws of the land.”
He said: “As alumni of Commonwealth Hall from both sides of the house, we are displeased with how the University of Ghana has gone about things. We fail to understand why the university is failing to respect the law.”
Dr Apaak, therefore, expressed optimism that things could be resolved amicably, but in the meantime, they expected the university to respect the rules of the land.
Other contributors urged the authorities of the institution to accord the needed attention to the court orders for harmony to prevail among students and the authorities of the premier university.
“Our fellows of the hall when aggrieved with the decision of the university didn’t take to the streets but sought remedy in the court and the court has given interim guidance and those directions of the court must be obeyed by the University,” Mr Defeamekpor told Journalists.