UG SRC Elections: Guru disqualified from presidential race

According to the Electoral Commission, pursuant to article 40 and 41 of the UGSRC Constitution, the Veting Committee of the University of’ Ghana Students” Representative Council (UGSRC) conducted the vetting process for the 2024 UGSRC General Election on the evening of Sunday, 1 August 3024.

The Committee assessed three Treasurer aspirants, three General Secretary aspirants, and five

Presidential and Vice Presidential aspirants.

According to them, upon a careful examination of the documents submitted, it was discovered that two candidates from the Presidential and Vice Presidential aspirants indicated their non-resident status, which they further confirmed during the vetting process.

The Commission further disclosed that these aspirants are, Maradona Adjei Yeboah and Lawrence Edinam Egleh

They added that “a careful consideration of Article 30 (1)(a) of the UGSRC Constitution under “Qualification” as seen below: “(1) A student shall not be qualified for eleetion to any executive office unless: He is qualified to contest elections under his hall’s Constitution, except that a provision requiring a student to be in at least his third year in this University shall not disqualify such a person from contesting for any office under this article.”

“It is clear that the test of qualification of a candidate in UGSRC General Election includes Whether the candidate qualifies to be an Executive Officer of his or her residence (JCR). It follows that a critical qualification criteria is a person’s qualification to be an Executive Officer his or her hall of residence (JCR),” the statement added.

The EC explained that the quote from the constitution “further implies that where a person does not belong to any hall of residence (JCR) then the person does not qualify to be an Executive Officer of a hall of residence (JCR) and consequently not qualified or eligible to be an Executive Officer of the University of Ghana Students’ Representative Council (UGSRC).”

They revealed that “On a total reading of the UGSRC Constitution, it would be seen that it is the intention of the framers of the constitution that for a person to qualify to be an Executive Officer of the UGSRC, the person should have qualified to be an Executive

Officer of a hall of residence (JCR).”

The EC indicated that the Vetting Committee concluded after a critical assessment of the qualification criteria noticed that, Maradona Adjei Yeboah and Lawrence Edinam Egleh do not meet the criteria stated in article 30(1) (a) of the UGSRC Constitution and therefore do not qualify or are not eligible to contest for an Executive Officer position of the University of Ghana Students’ Representative Council (UGSRC).

Finally, it noted that the article 4 (d) (ii) of the Constitutional Instrument (CI 24) governing the electoral process states that, “In a case where on a ticket, especially the Presidential and Vice ticket, one of the aspirants, either the President or the Vice, does not meet any of the requirements as stated in the UGSRC Constitution, the whole ticket is therefore disqualified.”

 By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme