2018 Grand Elections On UEW, Ajumako Campus

As the tradition on the University of Education, Ajumako campus demands, there is the need to change student leadership batons on yearly basis. In order to ensure an effective, free and fair transfer of batons from one administration to another, the university has adopted elections as the means of selecting student leaders for the institution

On Tuesday, April 24, 2018, the students of the University of Education, Winneba- Ajumako Campus exercised their franchise in selecting leaders to take up leadership roles as SRC, JCRC, NUGS and ASGHAL executives respectively. There were tensions everywhere as a candidates victory means victory to his/her language unit and a victory to his/her department as a whole.

This explains why candidates made careful selections of their running mates in order to get a ‘perfect’ combination of supporters. . The voting was strictly technological with the use of a voting-software which verified eligible voters as well as collated and displayed the results it in real-time.

ASGHAL

As at 12:30pm, the voting space of the Association of Ghanaian Languages (ASGHAL) was still crowded with voters still trooping in to exercise their rights to vote. According to the deputy chairman of the ASGHAL Electoral Commission, Elvis Kabu, there were a few challenges which nearly forfeited the ASGHAL Elections.

This according to him was the fact that their software in one way or the other restarted, which caused them to lose count of the initial voters. This could have been a major setback if not for the timely intervention of the executives who ensured that the matter was solved without chaos. 

That is, since they have already noted the initial voters, they reached out to the said voters and pleaded with them to re-vote. 

According to Elvis Kabu, the said voters understood the error and re-voted. This ensured a free and fair election. By the close of the day, Seidu Sakibu and Emmanuel Fiagbedu won the ASGHAL President and Vice President respectively.

JCRC

The election of the executives of the Junior Common Room Council (JCRC) was the most tensed. This was because, the register for the Twi unit (level 100) was not captured in the voting software system thereby raising rumors on the infringements of some people’s rights to vote. The JCRC Electoral Commissioner, Imoro Mohammed Mutala, when confronted, explained that he did his part as the EC to forward the complete list to the voting-software developers who were supposed to add them to the voters register program. He therefore could not tell what actually caused the omission of those names.

He however assured that he has everything under control and all whose names were not capture were still allowed to vote after a confirmation of studentship by all the polling agents. The said official in charge of the software (name withheld), when confronted, made it clear that even though the error still baffled him, it will neither affect the voting nor be a reason to infringe anyone’s voting rights. 

According to him, his duty was to facilitate the electoral process and not to determine who votes or not. He added that any student whose name has been omitted mistakenly can freely come forward to vote once his studentship is confirmed by the various polling agents backed by the JCRC Electoral Commissioner. It was thus evident that the elections were transparent and free of any form of rigging.

The elections ended in a tie thus, a run-off was scheduled for Friday, April 27, 2018. By close of the said day, Mohammed Nashirudeen and Freeman Wayo emerged JCRC President and Vice President elect respectively.

SRC & NUGS

Who would have thought that the most coveted spot, SRC president position, which has been for long held by the Gur-Gonja Department, head into a run-off between the Akan-Nzema Department and the Ewe Department respectively? Well it happened this time round. The elections started with a few issues though.

It was agreed before the day of voting, between the chairman of the SRC Electoral Commission, the polling agents as well as the candidates, that a student can be said to be a valid voter if he/she presents a school ID or a print-out of the course registration to confirm his/her index number and image to the verification officer. In a case where the image of a voter does not appear on his/her print-out, the voter must present a valid ID (voter’s ID, national ID, NHIS card or passport) in order to confirm identity and ownership of the index number.

During the early hours of the morning, the number of people trooping in without the said requirements was quite alarming. This triggered the polling agents to plead with the Electoral Commissioner to make some amendments to the convention made earlier and allow those without the said requirements to vote once their studentship is proved by all the polling agents. The EC agreed and the exercise took effect. 

However, the said amendment was creating problems for the electoral process and the Electoral Commissioner had to dissolve the said amendments and stick to the consensus earlier established.

Alhassan Stephen Williams, the SRC Electoral Commissioner, noted that in order to ensure free and fair elections, the Constitutional Instrument (CI) was pasted on the notice board several days before the elections so at to educate the eligible voters on what goes into the electoral process. 

Even though the process was simple, free, fair and transparent, the SRC presidential position resulted in a run-off between Katamani Etsey from the Department of Ewe Education, and Samuel Sarfo of the Department of Akan-Nzema Education respectively. In view of this, a run-off election was scheduled to Friday, May 4, 2018. By the close of the run-off election, Etsey Katamani and Baba Farid Abdulai emerged SRC President and Vice President elect respectively while Raphael Kateye Pernarh stood as the Local NUGS President elect.

The joyful celebrations of the ‘Winning Teams’ easily cleared the tension and sorrows of those who emerged less fortunate. “As the saying goes, life is war. After elections, we are still one people. Let us all support the winners to achieve their said aspirations for the betterment of our beloved institution”, Ida Ligbidi advised.

Reported by Daniel Felix Ayibontey
(Colange Media)