PRESS STATEMENT READ AND ISSUED BY NUGS AT A PRESS CONFERENCE HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 25TH FEBRUARY, 2015. NUGS SPEAKS ON MATTERS OF CONCERN TO THE STUDENTS OF GHANA.

Colleague National Officers of NUGS, National Executive Committee Members, Bloc Executives present, SRC and local NUGS Executives from member institutions herein present, our friends from the media, Fellow Students, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning.

My name is Prosper Dzitse, the President of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), 

I warmly welcome you all to this important press conference where we are essentially going to highlight a number of issues in our educational front which are of great concern to the student movement and also acknowledge efforts being made to address the issues or the lack of it. In no particular order, we have categorized the issues under the following headings and wish to interrogate them as such:

📌GETFund and matters arising

📌National Youth Authority and matters arising  

📌Mathematics, Science and Technology Scholarship Scheme (MASTESS) 

📌Utility Subsidies and Public Tertiary Institutions

📌Power outages

📌Moratorium on Public Sector Employment 

📌National Service Postings

📌Concerns at the Basic Educational Level

📌Concerns at the Second Cycle Institutional Level

📌Free SHS 

📌Concerns of Private University Students

📌Security on our various campuses

📌General Educational Issues

Conclusion 

GETFUND AND MATTERS ARISING

NUGS wishes to register its displeasure at the way and manner government is handling issues regarding GETfund allocations. As we speak, the fund has been in arrears of over GHC 600 million for several months; yet government has not put in the needed efforts towards this statutory obligation as mandated by the GETFund Act, Act 581. Not even a high court judgment in this regard secured in 2014 by Richard Nuamah, a youth activist could compel government to settle GETFund arrears. 

Government’s lack of commitment to the cry of GETFund is very worrying. It is no more newsworthy to hear every now and then that GETFund is broke and as such cannot carry-out its primary mandate of providing finance to supplement the provision of education at all levels by the government, particularly in public tertiary institutions, because the fund has consistently been starved of its legitimate budgetary allocations which however, is a palpable contravention of the provisions in the GETFund Act 2000, (Act 581). It is worthy of note that Section 2 of the Act provides that GETFund shall mainly be financed by an amount of money, equivalent to two and half percent (2.5%) out of the prevailing rate of Value Added Tax (TAX) to be paid by the VAT Service to the fund or such percentage not less than two and half percent of the VAT rate as Parliament may determine.

The net effect of government’s failure to adhere to this law and accordingly transfer GETFund money collected through VAT to the fund has completely crippled the operations of the GETFund Authority and rendered it ineffective. It is actually not surprising that if today, you went round to inspect GETFund projects in our tertiary institutions, you would be overwhelmed by the state of neglect and complete stagnation of such projects; a development which has now compelled some school authorities to surcharge students as a desperate measure to raise funds for the completion of such projects.

Again, GETFund’s mandate also includes catering for the educational expenses of Ghanaian students who are studying abroad on GETFund scholarship. Unfortunately, these innocent students are now being threatened with imminent dismissals from their respective institutions abroad due to non-payment of fees. Our office (NUGS) has continuously received distress calls from such students on daily basis regarding their ordeals and the need for urgent steps to arrest such. We are therefore calling on the government to take pragmatic steps towards resolving this issue with a sense of urgency.

FORMATION OF STATUTORY BOARDS THAT HAVE STUDENT REPRESENTATION (NYA/GETFund)

NUGS is highly displeased over government’s failure to appoint substantive boards for statutory institutions that have student interest and representation; a development that continues to hinder the smooth administration of those institutions. Such boards include GETFund and the National Youth Authority. For instance, in the case of GETFund, the president is yet to appoint a governing board for the authority; two years after the expiration of the mandate of the last Board in the year 2012. Same can also be said about the National Youth Authority (NYA), both of which have no Board as we speak. Interestingly, one can only but be fascinated with the alacrity at which the President reconstituted the Board of the Ghana Airport Authority when the mandate of the last Board expired in recent past. It actually took the president less than a week to do that, yet in the case of GETFund and NYA; we are talking about three years and still counting. How pathetic!

We wish to observe that GETFund is one of the achievements of NUGS through several months of student agitations which compelled government to put up such a fund and therefore we shall not sit aloof and see it collapse before us. NUGS shall adopt every legitimate means to salvage the fund from its current predicament because the repercussions of such would be unbearable. To this end, NUGS wishes to call on the government to as matter of urgency, release the huge GETFund arrears and also constitute the GETfund board as well as that of the National Youth Authority (NYA) else we shall advise ourselves.

Furtherance to the above, NUGS is also calling for the immediate dismissal of the current CEO of the National Youth Authority, Mr. Ras Mubarack for blatant disregard of the interest of Ghanaian students in his dealings. For instance, he deliberately refused to engage the leadership of student youth groups in the country throughout the processes leading to the launch of the policy. In fact, we were completely sidelined and attempts made to reach him were unsuccessful. To that extent, we think that there is no student interest in the current policy and wish to put the blame at his doorstep. NUGS also takes serious exceptions to his demeanor and gross display of arrogance before us and we think that he is not deserving of such sensitive position.

MATHEMATICS, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME

(MASTESS)

Regrettably, government’s failure to pay GETFund arrears has resulted in the ailing state of the MASTESS scholarship programme; a scholarship scheme which was instituted sometime in 2009 for brilliant but needy Science, Maths and technology students at the nation’s tertiary institutions. The beneficiaries of this scheme are now being threatened with withdrawals from their institutions if they are unable to pay their fees because GETfund is not releasing their scholarship subventions. This is not the time for promises or assurances, government must just pay GETfund its due to make the authority financially viable in order to be able to sustain the MASTESS programme.

UTILITY SUBSIDIES TO PUBLIC TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS

NUGS wishes to once again reiterate its age-long position that students in public tertiary institutions shall fiercely resist any attempt by our school authorities to pass-on the cost of utility bills to the poor Ghanaian student who is already overwhelmed by the rising cost of tertiary education in the country. This position is a done deal and nonnegotiable. We the leadership of NUGS have on several occasions engaged the relevant authorities including the ministers of education and power as well as officials of ECG and VC-Ghana on this contentious matter but it doesn’t appear much has been achieved in finding amicable settlement to the impasse. Government officials keep on assuring us that everything is under control. In fact, the education ministry recently furnished us with a press statement followed by a cabinet memo purporting to allay our apprehension and instructing ECG to stop tormenting heads of public tertiary institutions for their electricity bills because that is the responsibility of government. School heads were also instructed not to surcharge any student for utility bills. Unfortunately, these assurances have not achieved anything because ECG is still bent on ensuring that they retrieve every dime owed them by the institutions probably because of previous experience of financial responsibilities on the part of government. In other words, ECG is sending a strong message to the government of their insatiable readiness to flouting the directive which was contained in a cabinet memo dated 20th June, 2014; copies of which we have in our possession. We have received several distress calls from a number of SRCs including UEW and UMAT SRC of broad-day moves by ECG to disconnect their lights even in the aftermath of the cabinet instructions to them to do otherwise.

From the foregoing, it is palpably evident that the only remedy to this seemingly insurmountable impasse is for government to show genuine commitment to paying ECG all the due arrears rather than continuing with this promise spree which has not yielded the needed result. 

As if to aggravate matters, the Deputy Power Minister, Mr. John Jinapore said on Joy fm current affairs show, news file last Saturday 21st February, that government was seriously considering ways of making the traditional halls of residence at the various public universities pay for their utility bills just like the private hostels. This position sharply contradicts what was purported to be the official position of cabinet. NUGS is calling for an immediate reconciliation of the two positions. As we conclude on this, we wish to charge on our constituents to braise themselves up for a major showdown with government should there be any attempt to levy students with these utility bills. Students of this country have exercised enough restraints already on this matter and can no longer tolerate any lackadaisical attitude from the managers of our national purse as far as this and other issues are concerned. Enough is enough and we are ready to strike within the confines of the law in ensuring that our educational rights and freedoms are protected to the latter.

THE POWER OUTAGES (DUMSOR)

What again do we have to say about this infamous dumsor phenomenon which has not been said before? The problem is increasingly becoming more and more exacerbated by the day and we are continuously being greeted with a number of excuses by those who should be providing the necessary solutions. There cannot be an exaggeration of the devastating effects of this on students and the education sector in general. The continuous outages are not just rendering teaching and learning ineffective but also a threat to national security. 

Teaching and learning cannot go on smoothly in our schools because of the agonizing intermittent power supply which to a large extent is blamable for the poor academic performance of many students of late. It is no more unusual to see students walk long distance at night in a desperate attempt to find lights so they could study. In some cases, they are compelled to study by the streets of our cities taking advantage of the street lights. We ask our government, for how long should this ugly spectacle continue? Must we all withdraw from school or lose our lives before government appreciates the gravity of this crisis and do something about it?

We are all very much aware that government is not oblivious of what it is supposed to do in tackling this crisis head-on. So government certainly knows what to do. The current problem we have is not one of generation but our inability to meet our full operation capacity because of government's inability to invest in buying crude to power our existing plants to get the needed energy. Moving forward, NUGS wishes to suggest that government should as a matter of urgency, prioritize investment into this sector because energy remains the number one driver of our economy.

FREEZE IN PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT

Government's decision to continue the infamous policy of putting a moratorium on public sector employment is very problematic and will aggravate the unemployment menace in the country; which remains arguably, our number one threat to national development and security. The biggest worry for graduates and students in the final year is unemployment. The future is unfortunately very bleak. Over 50,000 tertiary graduates are churned out every year onto a future of uncertainties. Last year about 76000 National Service persons have been deployed to various institutions. Our simple question is where are they going after August this year if none of them can be retained in the public sector after their National Service assignment?

NATIONAL SERVICE PRE-REGISTRATION LEVY 

NUGS has observed that some of our constituents have raised serious concerns regarding recent moves by the National Service Secretariat to levy all prospective National Service personnel with a GHS 40. 00 as pre-registration fees which is expected to take effect this year. We do not subscribe to the arrangement where students are going to be prevented from serving their country because of their inability to honour this upfront payment. What then happens to those who genuinely cannot pay? No national service for them? Isn't national service mandatory on every citizen? Isn't national service supposed to come with some national pride? Why take away this pride from us? This is obviously a new policy and requires a lot of public education from the NSS secretariat to make students properly appreciate it. We are by this release therefore, imploring the national service secretariat led by Dr. Kpessah Whyte to come clear on this policy for the good of all.  

CONCERNS AT THE BASIC EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

NUGS has observed with great disquiet the lack of proper monitoring and supervision of teachers at this level of education resulting in poor educational output which is to the detriment of the nation. The menace of teacher absenteeism continue to be a matter of great concern to all education watchers; even though we are quick to admit that government has done a lot in checking this worrying trend culminating in the reduction of percentage of teacher absenteeism from 27% to 11% at the end of 2014. NUGS commends government for this feat and wish to urge the education ministry as well as the Ghana Education Service (GES) to do more in ensuring zero tolerance for teacher absenteeism and other negative enterprises by some teachers which have negative effects on innocent students. It has also come to our notice that some school heads and teachers are charging unauthorized fees which is of great discomfort to parents and guardians.

The education ministry and Ghana Education Service have been very critical of this and we wish to also add our voice in condemning this practice. We acknowledge the fact that the school feeding programme is seriously challenged because of huge government indebtedness to the caterers employed under the programme.  The union finds this development as worrying and untenable. To this extent, NUGS wishes to call on the government and other relevant authorities to take immediate steps in resolving some of these challenges at the basic education level since it is basic education that forms the basis for higher learning.

CONCERNS AT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS

The nation’s second cycle institutions are also not spared of some of the fundamental challenges bedeviling basic education in the country. However, we wish to for some justifiable reasons, focus our attention on the growing culture of indiscipline, hooliganism and acts of maladministration as well as religious discrimination which are notoriously gaining prominence at this level of education. For the records, NUGS wishes to unreservedly condemn these acts of violence by the students as the means of seeking redress to their concerns. On religious discrimination, we wish to remind ourselves that Ghana has come a long way in ensuring that religious tolerance remains our pride and there is no room for retrogression. We wish to call on school authorities to respect the religious rights and freedoms of their students as underpinned by both the letter and spirit of our 1992 constitution.

NUGS has also noticed with great concern that we are not doing well in handling student agitation as a country at all. Instances of police and military brutalities meted out to rioting students at Wa Islamic senior high school, Bolgatanga SHS, Ghana SHS, and recently, St. Paul college which have led to the death of some students and the closure of these schools are still fresh in our memories. In as much as we condemn the unpopular actions of the students because of our love for constructive engagements and due process, we also think this should be a wake-up call on us to take a holistic look at how we handle the concerns of students at this level.

In the light of this, NUGS wishes to make a passionate appeal to all the relevant stakeholders especially the ministry of education, Ghana Education Service, heads of private second cycle institutions as well as the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) to support our efforts in establishing regional SRCs in regions that have none whilst strengthening the existing ones to make them more fortified in order to be able to champion the interest of their constituents and help redress some of these issues as and when they come up in pursuance to our regulatory regime as well as the culture of natural justice. This is because, we have observed that most of these things happen in regions that have no regional SRCs and therefore the students are often left with no option but to take their destiny into their own hands in their fight for justice and liberation.

FREE SHS

NUGS commends government over attempts to gradually introduce free SHS system in the country effective this year as contained in the 2015 national budget. The union recognizes the need to make education progressively free as provided for in our 1992 constitution. However, a lot of education watchers have raised a number of reservations regarding the way and manner government wishes to proceed with this policy and its feasibility. We associate ourselves with those concerns and wish to also raise the following nagging concerns which form the basis for our doubt.

From where we sit, there is no clarity regarding how much it would cost the government to implement this policy as well as the source of funding. We are therefore calling on government to come clear on this. Again, we also wish to find out from the government whether basic education is completely free, qualitative and accessible before proceeding to make SHS free. How sure are we that this is not another campaign device intended to win political sympathy for the ruling class? We are essentially asking these germane questions because as a union, we are concerned about the sustainability of this policy and whether it can indeed secure the future of our young generation and not aggravate matters at that level. This is because we are all witnesses to government’s dereliction of financial responsibilities relative to the payment to feeding subventions to Senior High Schools in the country.

PRIVATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS 

Our constituents at the private universities are suffering a lot of injustices stemming from acts of unfair discrimination to instances of government neglect, high fee charges among others. Students at the private universities are also Ghanaians who pay taxes just like their counterparts at the public universities and are therefore deserving of all the educational courtesies and rights as enshrined in our 1992 constitution. While we must commend the good work being done by the Student Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) led by Mrs. Sheila Naa-Boamah, we also wish to propose that a special package will be prepared for private university students under SLTF since they pay higher fees and as such need to be properly cushioned. 

We are also calling on government and parliament to review the GETFund Act to ensure an extension of its mandate to make private university students direct beneficiaries of GETFund policies and programmes. To the authorities of our various Private institutions, we know your aim is to make money, we are also aware that you need resources to run the affairs of your institutions, we appreciate your efforts in helping provide education to our members, but we would like to plead with you to be considerate in your charges in order to help make the education your outfit provides affordable.

SECURITY ON OUR CAMPUSES 

Security on our various campuses remains a major concern to the student front and we wish to call on the school authorities to ensure proper measures are put in place to nib this problem in the bud because issues of security cannot be compromised at all. We receive daily reports from various institutions of the porous nature of security on a number of campuses, we are not the least pleased with the way and manner such issues are addressed. Students have paid to have education; their lives must be secured in order to have these dreams materialize.  

GENERAL ISSUES:

👉Graduate students👈

NUGS wishes to appeal to government to consider the inclusion of distance education student who are pursuing various graduate courses into the list of beneficiaries of government bursaries as well as the early release of such. The delay in releasing the results of many a graduate student by lecturers is becoming very alarming, can you imagine that a postgraduate education that should take 2 years to receive are now taking 5 to 7 years as result of undue delays? This is certainly unacceptable, how do we compete with the world at this pace in this era of technological and global advancement?

👉Employers/Industry👈

We are saying that stop asking fresh graduates for a working experience, if you do not have space to employ us say it. How can you be asking for 2 to 5 years working experience? Where does industry expect us to get such experience from as fresh graduates? Absolutely unfair to say the least. Sacrifice some resources in equipping us with the needed technical skills and help the academia identify your needs.

👉Academia👈

We want education that can give us results, give us quality education inspired by research; we want education that will help us contribute our quota effectively towards the building of our country even as you continue to demand for research allowance and better conditions of service, work with industry and policy makers to structure your courses towards national development. We know you can do it.

Health Institutions

We wish to draw government’s attention to the fact that since 2011, graduates from Korle-Bu school of hygiene as well as those of Tamale and Ho have still not been posted after the successful completion of their course of study. It is therefore our plea that government takes steps to ensure that the nation benefits from professional training especially as the nation continue to battle the menace of cholera and other diseases that require their services.    

👉Special Schools👈

Another issue bordering NUGS has to do with the way and manner the plight of students with special needs is being handled. We have visited some of these institutions and can say on authority that governments as well as the relevant stakeholders are not showing commitment to their concerns; in fact, we are overwhelmed at the level of neglect with respect to their concerns. Government is failing to honor its financial obligations in the form of feeding subventions and utility bills to the institutions. In the light of this, NUGS wishes to appeal to government to take keen interest in the affairs of these students and commit the necessary resources to their course as well as call on the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) to help in formulating policies that will help in the advancement of these students from the second cycle level to the tertiary level.

CONCLUSION

Per the issues that we have raised quite succinctly, it is very obvious that the students of Ghana are not demanding for a rocket science nor are we making utopian demands from our government and other stakeholders, we are only asking for the necessary ambience and opportunity to be created that would make it possible for us to realize our fundamental educational rights and freedoms to the fullest.

We all have a role to play in our forward movement as a country in as far as education in Ghana is concerned, students, parents, the academia, various communities, the media, employers and of cause government. Indeed the education of our country is too important to be left in the hands of the academia and that of government. While we have all agreed that government must lead the way by showing commitment towards our education, we must also not lose sight of the fact that we are all involved in building our motherland.

We wish to conclude by expressing fervent optimism that government and the relevant

authorities would take a cue from the aforesaid critical issues and act accordingly in meeting our justified expectations. 

Thank you. 

Long live NUGS

Long live Mother Ghana

ALUTA CONTINUA!!!

VICTORIA ASCERTA!!!

....Signed....

Rhodalyn Eshun

Press and Information Secretary

+233 246 701 359

Prosper Dzitse

President

+233 546 580 044

ADDRESS PRESENTED BY THE NATIONAL PRESIDENT OF PUSAG AT THE JUST ENDED NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STUDENT LEADERS ORGANIZED BY EDUCATION MINISTRY IN ACCRA ON FEBRUARY 12, 2014

Mr. Chairman, honourable deputy minster for education 

in charge of tertiary, the deputy minister of transport, 

CEO of student loan trust fund, other distinguished invitees, 

comrades in the enterprise of student leadership, the media, 

ladies and gentlemen. I greet you all. 

It is a humbling experience for me to be accorded

this glorious opportunity to make a statement on

behalf of all private students in the country at this

momentous occasion. I wish to therefore begin by

saluting all of you especially the Ministry of Education

for this honour done me and my colleagues in the

nation’s private universities even though, I must however

confess that PUSAG and for that matter private

university students are very unhappy at the nature of

representation at this programme. Whereas the 9 public

universities in the country were given as much

as 63 slots, we have been given only 10 slots

notwithstanding the fact that there are over 42

private universities in the country. So the

discrimination has started right here.

It will be absolutely unconscionable and preposterous

for anybody to seek to downplay the significance of

private institutions in the Ghanaian educational

environment. This is because the invaluable

contributions of the private sector to the development

of education in the country cannot be

overemphasized; owing to the fact that government

alone is not in a position to meet the rising demands

of tertiary education in the country. It is thus

commonsensical for anyone to think that government

has a moral obligation of ensuring that the requisite

environment is created for the survival of private

educational institutions in order to ensure that they

complement the efforts of the state as far as the

provision of education is concerned.

Admittedly, I wish to state categorically state that

successive governments in the country have to a

large extent, contributed towards the progress of

private universities in the country by rolling out

laudable policies and programmes as well as the

provision of the necessary legal regime to ensure

their survival. It is therefore not surprising to observe

that most of the fine brains we have in the country of

late are proud products of private universities.

Having made these factual observations, I wish to at

this juncture draw the attention of government and all

stakeholders that private universities are increasingly becoming overwhelmed by several challenges which are crippling their 

efforts in establishing their relevance in today’s Ghana and

hope that something would be done to rescue this

anomaly.

In as much as we are calling for parity with respect

to how government treats our counterparts in the public 

universities, we think that as Ghanaian taxpayers and in 

the spirit of our 1992 constitution which enjoins us to see 

education as a due right and not a privilege, government

must consider some of its actions and policies which appear 

very draconian and do not auger well for the educational 

wellbeing of students in the nation’s private universities. 

The issues are innumerable but let me attempt mentioning 

a few which I consider very topical and require urgent 

attention.

GETFUND AND MATTERS ARISING

Private university students wish to reiterate their

age-long call on the Mahama government for

GETfund support as it was the case in recent past. In

fact, it worth mentioning that during the erstwhile

Kuffour government, many private universities

including Zenith University, Aseshi, Valley View,

Winconsson, Islamic, Methodist, Central university

and many others benefited from GETfund projects. I

really do not know what has changed that this

government thinks that private universities are not

deserving of such benefits any longer. We however

appreciate that this would come at huge cost on

government and that is why we are not requesting for huge

projects on the campuses of private universities but

are rather pleading with government to extend to us

some of the mitigation policies that we see in public

tertiary institutions which directly benefit students

like the famous Student Loan Trust Fund (SLTL) in

order to cushion private university students against

rising cost of education. For God’s sake, we are also

Ghanaians who pay taxes and are therefore

expected to directly or indirectly benefit from our

government through its policies and programmes.

Please I crave your indulgence to join me say a big

NO to discrimination in pursuance to both the spirit 

and letter of the1992 constitution of Ghana

IMPOSITION OF TAX ON PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

AND LEVIES ON STUDENTS

It would be recalled that Government recently

slapped private universities with a wanton 25%

cooperate tax. This, we contend is having strong

rippling effects on we the students since our school

authorities have decided to pass on this extra charge to

us, resulting in the astronomical increase in our fees.

It is a fact that no government in the world has ever

contemplated taxing education because it is an

essential necessity as far as the development of its

citizenry and the nation is general is concerned. You

wonder what at all is wrong with the Ghanaian

government. Must we go taxing everything simply

because we want to increase our revenue?

PUSAG is therefore using this opportunity to appeal

to government to reconsider this unpopular decision

and possibly reduce it to about 10% in the worst

possible scenario. We the leadership of PUSAG have

been in talks with the Council for Independent

Universities and they have agreed that if this is done,

it would indeed result in reduction in the cost of

tertiary education as far as the private universities

are concerned. It is thus our contention that the tax

waiver given to private sector industries and the

removal of corporate tax from raw materials and

farming tools in the 2015 budget can be applied to

private universities as well.

THE UNIVERSITY CHARTER

The issuance of independence or charter status is

another area where private universities suffer great

discrimination and injustice from the state. Government

tells us that as a matter of policy, private

universities must exist for at least 10 years before

they qualify for autonomy which would essentially

mean that they wouldn’t have to pay a wanton GH

¢20,000 institutional accreditation to National

Accreditation Board and GH¢ 4,000 renewal fees.

However, we can prove that there are quite a number

of private universities that have existed for more than

10 years; yet government has refused to grant them

the charter. Surprisingly, the situation is completely

different in the case of public universities. How unfair

can we be?

DUMSOR AND GENERAL ECONOMIC HARDSHIP

PUSAG wishes to add its voice in calling on

government to as a matter of urgency, prioritize

investment into our energy sector as a way of

arresting this dumsor crisis which appears to have

overwhelmed the entire nation. The effects of dumsor

on education as well as general economic conditions

cannot be quantified. Indeed, in the specific case of

private universities which already pay outrageous

fees, students are again being surcharged with

huge financial commitment towards the acquisition of

energy plants in response to this seemingly

insurmountable energy crisis.

We wish conclude by charging on government to

treat our concerns with all the urgencies that they

deserve; failure of which we shall be left with no

option but compelled to resort to other means of

seeking redress including the staging of intense public

protestations and mammoth demonstration in the

coming days. PUSAG also wishes to admonish

authorities of private universities as well as our

constituents to strictly observe the nation’s legal

regime regarding accreditation and general

regulatory provisions.

Thank you.

SPEECH DELIVERED BY HIS LORDSHIP JUSTICE PAUL …., THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF NUGS AT THE MAIDEN EDITION OF THE NATIONAL STUDENT JUSTICES’ CONFERENCE HELD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST ON SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2015

Mr. Chairman

Your Lordships Justices of the nation's superior courts of judicature

Your Excellency the National President of NUGs and other NUGS executives herein present

Student Justices from the various institutions across the country

SRC and local NUGS executives present 

Fellow Students 

Ladies and Gentlemen

“ALL Protocols duly and conscientiously Observed”

I feel highly honored and privileged for this glorious opportunity accorded me to address this august gathering of intellectuals across the country on this momentous occasion of the maiden edition of national student justices’ conference which is being anchored on the theme; EMPOWERING THE STUDENT JUDICIARY FOR AN EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT JUDICIAL AND ELECTIONEERING PROCESSES"

This is an initiative of the

current judicial board of the national union of Ghana students (NUGS) with support from the national officers of NUGS which seeks to bring together student justices in the nation’s tertiary institutions and acquaint them with the modern art and science of jurisprudence in order to increase their

appreciation of the nation’s judicial regime and thus guide them in the proper administration of justice in their respective institutions and beyond.

Our decision to rollout this novel project is premised on the fact that my colleagues and I in the judicial committee of NUGS hold a strong contention that the dispensation of justice is the single most important factor that has the tendency to make or unmake any society and for that matter educational establishments where most often than not, election related issues sometimes overwhelm us as a people.

It is no more newsworthy nowadays to hear of litigation cases characterising student elections in this country. In fact, disputed elections remain the number one source of conflicts in most of our tertiary institution today. It is my reckoning that the judicial systems in our educational institutions have not been able to properly check this rising worrying trend hence the need for a more concerted efforts if we are to make the necessary progress in this regard.

This is because many of us do not seem to

appreciate the ‘inherent   intricacies’ that are

associated with the dispensation of justice and for that matter how to amicably settle our differences without any cause for concern. It is in

acknowledgement of this impregnable fact that we

thought it expedient to for the first time in the history of NUGS, create a platform like this and invite the relevant stakeholders especially the crèmes de la crèmes of our legal milieu who are mainly justices of the nation’s superior court of

judicature to educate us on what we need to know as far as this most important enterprise is concerned.

"You would all agree with me that as we strive to attract investments into Ghana, the Judiciary must lead in that effort. Economic development cannot thrive in a regime in which there is scant or no respect for rule of law. Respect for contracts can only be enforced if parties can count

on the just and expeditious enforcement of mutual and reciprocal rights. Where we fail in this regard, we create and augment the prevalence of uncertainty

and chaos. Our forebears bequeathed an institution which was respected for its competence and

commitment to principles. Thus, not only are we obliged to continue in that track, we indeed have a

higher calling to do more. The needs of our time are greater and the opportunities for excellence are

equally good"

This quote which is attributed to the Ghanaian Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Mrs. GeorginaWood is a further testament of the indispensability of any judicial system as far as societal progress is concerned. 

You and I cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the many reservations and complaints against both the bench and the bar. The painful menace of delay in the administration of

justice stemming from rampant adjournments and stagnation in the development of cases has led to the

frustration of many genuine litigants.

We are all "student lawyers and justices", a profession that calls itself noble. But if I may ask, wherein lies our nobility if our overarching consideration in our professional life is

money? Wherein lies our nobility if the litmus test of our success is the financial reward we stand to gain

from every little or drop of service we render? Nelson Mandela of blessed memory, noted this when he said,

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the

life we lead”

Finally, the strengthening of any organisation starts

with the individual members and other components of

the organisation. I therefore wish to implore all of us to imbibe the virtue of self-discipline and industry in all our legitimate undertakings as underpinned by the mission statement of the nation's judicial service which I quote verbatim "The Judiciary is an independent arm of the  the State created to resolve legal conflicts according to law, impartially and efficiently to all persons without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. We do this by the true and proper interpretation, application and implementation of the laws of Ghana".   

Ordinarily, as a learner in jurisprudence, it shouldn't have taken me more than than a minute to make my presentations because our learned resource persons are here who are competent enough to effectively dispense justice to the theme for this occasion and the other related issues that matter to us. I however felt compelled to make the observations that I made because of how passionate I feel about them. 

Thank you very much your audience and may we have a worthwhile learning experience.

Long live NUGS !!

long live all Ghanaian students

 Long live Ghana

Aluta Continua !!!!

Victoria Acerta!!!!.

Paul Addah

Chief Justice of NUGS

0278892000

USAG CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO FORM NYA BOARD AND SOLVE OTHER RELEVANT STUDENT ISSUES

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ASSOCIATION OF GHANA PRESS CONFERENCE SPEECH PRESENTED BY MR. TONY HENRY ARTHUR-   FINANCIAL CONTROLLER OF USAG ACCRA, 6TH FEBRUARY 2015 

Members of the media Students’ leaders SRC presidents Colleague students Ladies and Gentlemen   Distinguished delegates, ladies, and gentlemen: On behalf of the University Students Association of Ghana and on my own behalf, I welcome you to this all important and first press conference of this association. 

Indubitably, and as we know, there is a greater consciousness today of the links and inter-dependence of the two social institutions; the economy and education This press conference has become important because as an association which is the mother body for all universities in Ghana; USAG has over 300,000 student membership and is anon-political and a not-for-profit organization and does not discriminate (tribe/ethnicity, religion, race, etc).   USAG works at mobilizing and harnessing the human and intellectual potential and capacity of the University community and channeling them into valuable/positive projects and activities.

  Our mission is to contribute our quota, as an academic and intellectual community, to the national, continental and global development agenda through constructive engagement with the people, agencies and organizations which have a stake (direct or indirect) in the socio-cultural, economic and political growth, progress and transformation agenda.     Over the years USAG has been involved in advocacy, campaigns, project initiatives and implementation, Information dissemination, and Capacity building programs that focus in areas including: 

    · ·         Health and Education

 · ·         Youth empowerment and development

 · ·         Poverty reduction and Gender Equality

 · ·         Good Governance and Decentralization 

· ·         Conflict, Security and Peace 

· ·         Economic development and growth 

· ·         MDGs (and Post 2015 Consultations and Agenda)

 USAG liaises with both Profit and Not-for Profit organizations at the grassroots/community, national, continental and international level to work at achieving objectives and goals of common interest.  In a hypothetic-deductive analysis, it would be a tragedy of monstrous proportion for an association with this human resource and objectives to sit unconcerned and pretend all is well as far as university education, teaching and learning and students’ lives are concerned. We therefore wish to use this medium to lament, suggest, contribute, comment generally on policies and issues that affect us and state our stance on them The current economic downturn has affected every social institution in the country and hence we the university students have had a fair share of it. 

Firstly, Ghana has been plunged into serious power crises. Even though Energy experts have identified power crises into three stages and put Ghana’s current power crises into the second, we the university Students Association of Ghana believe that every problem or challenge has got a remedy no matter how insurmountable they may seem. Power crises cannot be a pleasant situation and its effects are so severe that it calls for government response. In making economic analysis, we understand better the effect of the crises on our macro-economic indicators. The cost of production is relatively higher under this current unpleasant situation and the immediate effect is that businesses would have to lay off workers in order to keep their profit margins good and also, this cost is transferred to consumers of including students thereby making cost of living/schooling on our various campuses very expensive. More directly related to teaching and learning in our universities, the current irritating power crises have affected us greatly. Most of the evening lectures are not held, laboratory operations and experiments are not conducted, slowing down of research. 

Teaching and learning have become very difficult in our universities. The result has been decreased students’ performances. The effects of these crises on security on our campuses too cannot be overemphasized. Even though the universities are committed to providing safe and healthy environment for students, the current ‘dumsordumsor’ makes it very difficult to be achievable. Recently, the number of rape, murder and robbery cases on our university campuses has been on the increase as a result of these power crises. If someone comes to the university to acquire some level of training and his or her security cannot be assured then how can smooth training and transfer of knowledge take place? If the saying ‘the strength of a nation depends on her youth’ holds, then we have a business calling the attention of the government to these worries of ours. We call on the government to really look into these issues. We again plead for special power time table for all universities and if possible there should be minimal or no lights off on our university campuses during examination periods.  

 GOVERNMENT SUBVENTION TO UNIVERSITIES It will be completely paradoxical or out of place for a lower middle income like Ghana to pay little attention to tertiary education, preferably university. It has been established that one of the ways to eradicate poverty is through education. If poverty is the worst form of violence, as Mahatma Gandhi said, and Ghana is suffering from abject poverty then it is incumbent on USAG to advocate for less expensive university education. Tertiary/university education in Ghana has increasingly become more expensive and hence affordable to only the rich. Presenting the 2015 budget, the finance minister stated that “the ministry will increase enrollment levels at SHS from 770925 to 786344 and from 32833 to 33490 in TVET. This will be achieved through interventions such as provision of subsidies for over 780000 SHS students and 33000 TVET students”. He added that only 60 % of JHS graduates are absorbed annually into the country’s second cycle institutions and in a bid to remedy this, the ministry of education will commence the construction of 200 community day SHS in 2014; and also to reduce the cost of special education to parents, 6800 pupils benefited from feeding grants in the second and third terms in the 2012/2013 academic year. 

Then USAG asks; what would be the essence of this integration when they, after SHS, cannot afford university education? What would be the use of this absorption when the universities are not equipped to absorb the SHS graduates? What happens when they are able to afford community day SHSs and cannot afford ‘Community day universities’ and how well and long will they be able to work with the SHS certificate when the economy cannot absorb even the university graduates. These and many questions demand answers as far government subventions to the universities are concerned. 

It is a paradox to mention that, despite the realization of income from oil, the nation is not in the capacity to provide enough funds as subventions to the universities. We state categorically that USAG does not support and will not support the idea of universities paying their own utilities and the weaning off subventions to all universities. We are vehemently opposing and calling for more government’s support to the universities to aid smooth running so that the cost of running the universities will not be passed on to the students. When this happens then we are not making university education more accessible to all. 

Already fee paying programs like law and medicine have become programs that are more accessible to the affluent and the children of poor parents encounter much difficulty to pursuing them no matter how brilliant these children may be. 

NET FREEZE ON EMPLOYMENT  In our attempt to resolve our budgetary issues and earn fiscal prudence, many interventions have been made by the government through fiscal policy. However, we of USAG believe that we cannot throw away the dirty water with the baby in it. Presenting the 2015 annual budget, the minister of education made it clear that government is still going to embark on the net freeze on employment to the public sector with the exception of health and education. This came as a blow to us even though we must all keep faith with it. Although we have not entered into any form of a contract with the government to employ us after our degrees from our various universities, we also believe that it is the responsibility of the government to produce jobs. 

If both public and private sectors could not absorb the huge number of university graduates and now public sector freezes then we can expect nothing more than graduate unemployment. We suggest that, even if some of these interventions are external, the government considers her decision. If university education does not give us those employable skills we need then we are calling on all stakeholders to restructure our university programs. We also use this medium to encourage our students to create their own jobs even though creation of jobs have now become difficult in Ghana We of USAG suggest to government to also fund more entrepreneurial skills of our students to reduce unemployment of our graduate and also increase private public partnership to put the private sector in a position to expand and absorb our graduates MITIGATION LEVY In as much as we recognize the various interventions by the government to ensure fiscal prudence, we also reiterate that some of these interventions sometimes make living and financing of our university education very difficult, in that they shift cost to consumers(students). Indubitably, we can only say that it is prudent for a nation to plan ahead and make provisions for future unforeseen events. However, we of USAG want to state that we don’t support this mitigation levy proposed by the government some time ago.

  This levy, which according to the president, will be charged on petroleum products because the price of crude oil on the world market continues to fall, will be channeled into a fund to cushion consumers should the price of crude oil rise again. we don’t support because we believe that it will only past cost to us in that if we cannot enjoy the global fall in price of Brent crude oil, which has fallen to a new frame and half year below $50 per barrel (its lowest since 2009),  just because the government has to settle a debt of GHC42OM with the . Every petroleum product now is also being taxed at 17.5%, then (as if it is not enough) the government suddenly comes to introduce a new levy because the price has fallen...what is the logical congruency in this? As regards the pricing of the product it has been agreed as a country to allow the market to determine (automatic adjustment formula), so if government who is supposed to keep faith with the policy of free market economy (with respect to pricing of petroleum products) now comes out to slam a mitigation Levy then what does the government seek to achieve. If every citizen is a consumer (but not everybody is a producer) and this levy only will shift the burden to the consumers to pay then when can citizens raise their standard of living In Ghana, the effects of fuel prices on the consumable goods cannot be overemphasized in that any change in the price of petroleum products has a the capacity to alter general prices of goods and services making financing our university education very costly. We have learnt that reduction in prices increases disposable income which in turn increases savings and hence investment. If this is the case, all other things being equal, then it does the future of this country look brighter as far as investment and capital development is concerned. It will be a tragedy of monstrous proportion not to accentuate the fact that government must make the lives of its citizenry better not bitter. This will not only be effective as a fund mobilization opportunity but will also burden us students as consumers. We therefore plead that this will not materialize so that our cost of living on campuses will not soar higher. 

POLICY INVOLVEMENT Judging from the lens of the of the objectives, aims and advocacies of this association, one can readily say that disengaging a student’s group with high intellectual capacity like USAG, in decision making and youth policy formulation. We want to bring to light that our country is not doing very well in terms of our involvement in policy making, as compared to other countries like China and UK. Government is expected to involve their students groups or the youth in a range of governance activities. Yet, the conceptual bases of these are under-formed and often are theories. 

Students are not overwhelmingly consumerists and, if they are, this has little impact on engagement activity on. Ignoring us in policy formulation and decision making suggests that the country has no regards for its youth. More evidently is the National Youth Authority Board which is still not constituted. There have been several calls to the NYA and the Ministry for Youth and Sports but all have yielded no results There has been several follow up calls but as it stands now there is little to be said as progress made.

This development we say is quiet unfortunate because it is adversely affecting not only USAG or even our mother union NUGS but it means as per the law that establishes NYA that the voice of the youth in National decision making is not being duly considered.   

Permit me to list some of the areas in which our country is suffering because of this quagmire of the board not constituted.   

1. The Royal Senche accord had no input from us or NUGS so far as we are concerned nor do any recognized youth group and I believe that we as youth also have a lot to offer our country when such strategic decisions are being made.   

2. Again we can say with adequate knowledge that USAG or even NUGS was not consulted in the processes that led to the formation of the Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) Fund which I believe we would have made very relevant and timely contributions to both the planning and implementation of the Fund.   

3. We have no doubt that there is an ongoing process to get the implementation plan for the National Youth Policy and yet again, we at USAG, major stakeholders as such, are oblivious of how it is being done.

 We therefore bring to light that it is incumbent to involve students groups or better still; the youth is policy formulation in our country and we insist on the constitution of the NYA board now 

GET GETFUND TO BE EFFICIENT We are not oblivious of the fact that there is budgetary allocation to the GETFUND, but as to whether those monies are credited to the fund for all of us to benefit, we cannot say it. This is also one of the reasons why we vehemently reject the implantation of the mitigation levy which will also be channeled into a fund. The GETFund, we of USAG know, is a statutory fund established in 2000 to, among other objectives; provide financial support for agencies and institutions under the Ministry of Education for the development and maintenance of essential academic facilities and infrastructure in public educational institutions, particularly in tertiary institutions. It is also to provide supplementary funding to the Scholarship Secretariat for the grant of scholarships for gifted but needy students for studies in accredited tertiary institutions in Ghana.     

 Over the last 13 years, much has been achieved, especially in the areas of infrastructure development on the various campuses across the country, from tertiary down to second-cycle institutions. An annual increment in GETFund allocations and the fund’s achievements notwithstanding, it is bedeviled with funding challenges mainly as a result of the government’s inability to fulfill its financial obligations.   Finance for the fund comes from sources, including the Valued Added Tax (VAT), money allocated by Parliament for the fund and money that accrue to the fund from investment made by its board of trustees. The struggle with finances means that apart from the abandoned infrastructure projects, students living on the coffers of the fund face hardship outside the country. We are crying for its operation and efficiency because infrastructure projects in our universities so how do they expand the huge SHS graduates’ number We are crying because students who need scholarships to study in the universities are no more getting them. We are crying because students who are living on the coffers of the fund face hardship outside Ghana. 

 For instance, although the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning had, in a letter dated November 4, 2013, instructed the Controller and Accountant-General to pay the fund GH¢240,294,897.69 which, when added to the GHC88, 723,193 released will amount to GH¢362,439,109.31, less than the total budget allocation for the fund in 2013, the money was yet to be credited to the GETFund account. While in 2012 the budgeted allocation stood at GH¢545,440,000, the fund received GH¢505,549,121. If the days or demonstrations are over, then we plead the government to get GETFUND to be work. 

Our purpose of this conference, which has always been so, is to accentuate our problems and worries for immediate attention and once our case has been made we hold our expectation and envisaging redemption by the government.

Thank you. 

NUGS MEET WITH EDUCATION MINISTRY

Sometime last week Wednesday, we the national executives of NUGS had an official engagement with senior officers of the Ministry of Education including the two Deputy Ministers of education, (unfortunately, the substantive minister had to leave for an emergency cabinet meeting), the Chief Director of the Ministry as well as the Director-General of GES and other national directors of education over a number of issues of concern to the student movement and the ordinary Ghanaian student for that matter. 

As you would expect, the issues that were deliberated upon are quite innumerable however, I find the following as topical which are deserving of special mention;

The utility bills furore (with respect to public tertiary institutions) 

The MASTESS scholarship programme

Our moves to establish regional SRCs across the regions 

Hikes in fees and exploitation of students by some school heads

Govt's failure to release feeding subventions to schools on time 

Poor performance of pupils at the basic level n SHSs

Nursing and teacher trainee allowances

The ailing state of GETfund and way forward 

etc 

The meeting was very fruitful and engaging with some re-assuring assurances backed by documentary evidences. Of course we also a few reservations because not all our concerns were satisfactorily tackled.

  

I'm however restraining myself from giving you any details BUT rather wish to use this platform to inform you that NUGS is organizing "mammoth press conference" within this month of February where all the relevant ISSUES shall be interrogated and put into proper perspectives as far as the union's official position is concerned. So I encourage you to stay tuned. We shall let u into the details of the confab in the ensuing days. 

Your humble servant in student struggle

Iddi Muhayu-deen  (NUGS GENERAL SECRETARY)