Student Goes To Court Over Demonstration

A member of the National Union of Ghana Students ( NUGS) has filed a motion at the Accra Fast Track

High Court to stop a planned demonstration by NUGS against the government.

The plaintiff , Mr Sulemana A . Karim, who is a student of the Methodist University College , is seeking a declaration that the decision to embark on the demonstration is wrong . He is also asking the court to restrain the NUGS from going ahead with the planned demonstration.

Joined to the application is the president of NUGS. Statement of claim In his statement of claim , the plaintiff said NUGS had planned going on a demonstration on July 30, 2014 but the said demonstration had not been duly sanctioned by NUGS and by extension students in Ghana . The statement said the decision was, therefore , in breach of the laid - down procedure for decision making .

According to the statement, for all major decisions to be taken by NUGS, the National Executive Committee ( NEC) has to meet and provide an agenda for a central committee meeting or congress , adding that the NEC meeting held on June 30, 2014 did not discuss any motion to demonstrate as an agenda for the central committee meeting. It claimed, however , that at a NUGS Central Committee meeting held on July 1 , 2014, the NUGS president smuggled in a motion to demonstrate as an impromptu agenda for decision. 

Despite some of the members of the committee opposing that move , the statement said the president ignored their opposition of the motion and asked the gathering for a decision on the matter . Illegal voters It said contrary to the norm , observers at the meeting illegally took part in voting to push ahead the decision to go on the demonstration . The situation at the meeting, it said , became chaotic with no clear voting pattern , following which the president used his discretion to veto a vote for the motion.

''The decision to stage a demonstration is void because the decision is not reflective of the entire NUGS but a plot by the national officers of NUGS,'' the statement averred. Opposition to demonstration Some bloc heads, who opposed the decision, it said, issued a press release disengaging themselves from the demonstration and subsequently wrote a letter to the Accra Regional Commander of Police on July 23, 2014.

The decision to demonstrate , the statement said , must not be at the desire of the NUGS president or some national officers but must be taken properly and debated by all stakeholder institutions to engender proper agreement .The motion is scheduled to be moved on August 4, 2014 .