Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration Presidential Aspirant’s Management Team for the 2015 University Students Association of Ghana (USAG) elections, Team Raymond Nuworkpor, have registered their deepest displeasure about the 2015 USAG Elections.
USAG went to the Polls on 23rd July 2015 at the University of Cape Coast Students Representative Council (SRC) Hostel where the election was highly characterized by several constitutional breaches, malpractices and irregularities.
Team Raymond is clearly of the conviction that the outcome of the just ended elections, indicates a threat to Ghana’s Students leadership frontier; which has been engulfed with partisan politics that has compelled some faction of students to act in a very disturbing manner hence puts the future of Ghana in jeopardy.
The team has further noted with great concern and dismay that in recent times, the trend of students’ politics is taking a very different and dicey dimension; hence the need to curtail it since the culture and tradition of these practices have become a danger to Ghana’s young democracy.
At the just ended 2015 USAG Congress, the Electoral Commission (EC) of USAG failed to implement fundamentally the under listed provisions of the USAG constitution and as a result led to several constitutional breaches and electoral malpractices of which Team Raymond noted with keen observation and discontentment.
THE USAG CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS THAT WERE NOT IMPLEMENTED
43. (1) The Electoral Commission shall be responsible for the conduct of all voting procedures at Congress and Senate. (2) The Electoral Commission shall make rules not inconsistent with this constitution to govern the conduct of all USAG elections.
51. (1) The Electoral Commissioner shall within 12 hours before voting starts; (a) Compile an electoral register (b) Make rules for the conduct of elections and publish it to Congress at least 12 hours before voting starts. (2) Aspirants shall have written copies of both documents within the mandated time frame before voting.
52. (1) A person may challenge the results of an election within 6 hours after the declaration of the provisional electoral results.
53. (1) Subject to the clause below, an accredited delegate of a member institution shall have a right to vote. (2) An accredited delegate shall bear the Official ID Card of the member institution.
From the above constitutional references, it is very conclusive and strongly evident that the just ended USAG elections indicates a well planned and executed quest intended to pursue evil; and consequently achieving a selfish interest and political scores thereby risking the lives of many students who were present and killing the future of a UNION established for 15 years.
With the following under listed counts of irregularities that characterized the elections, it is apparent that the 2015 USAG election needs to be re-run after careful observations of the turnout of events on the voting day.
17 COUNTS OF IRREGULARITIES AS OBSERVED ON VOTING DAY
(I)Fundamental Constitutional infringements
1. That there was no display of voter register despite consistent appeal to the USAG EC by all 17 polling agents and their respective aspirants. Article 51. (1) (A) USAG Constitution.
2. That there were no Rules of Elections to guide the electoral exercise. Article 51. (1) (B) USAG Constitution.
3. That delegate did not use their student’s identification to authenticate their institutional membership during the voting process. Article 53. (2) USAG Constitution
(II) Operational flaws
4. That the ballot papers were not serial numbered throughout all the 7 contesting positions. NB// the question one will ask is where lies the fairness and transparency of the just ended elections.
5. That the ballot boxes used for the voting exercise did not have any sealing effect. NB// this simply pave way for the intended easy manipulation of the entire process.
6. That there was over voting in the outcome of the results as well as lack of consistency throughout the 7 positions which were contested for. NB: No voter register was made available. Article 51. (2) USAG Constitution.
7. That all 17 Polling agents present at the close of polls refused to sign the provisional results declaration sheet due to the electoral irregularities.
8. That Electoral Commission of Ghana equipment was used to conduct an election of that status without any national EC official present. NB// the question one will ask is that who actually released the equipments to the EC of USAG for the voting exercise.
9. That there was consistent revision of the un-displayed delegates’ voter list while voting was going on. NB// this gave room for non delegates and non registered institutions to cast their votes.
10. That there was deliberate refusal of the USAG EC not to count some votes and that made some ballot papers to be found on the floor of elections after the close of voting. NB// with what authority will a national exercise of such kind be treated with such gross contempt.
(III)Voting Under Intimidation
11. That the voting exercise was held at an enclosed place with over 30 police men armed to the teeth; both at the entry and exit of the premise. NB// what was the significance of a full Police contingent meant to achieve in such circumstances if mischief was not at play.
12. That the police unit present at the scene aided the electoral organizers so much that delegates were shocked and felt intimidated at the conduct of the Police and anyone who called for interpretation of procedures was threatened by some Polices officers on duty.
(IV) Illegal Acts of supervising officials
13. That there were situations whereby illegal delegates went through exit point to enter the voting premise to cast their vote; even when the illegal voters were prevented by a cross section of delegates outside the premise on suspicion that they were not students yet the USAG EC and the Police allowed them pull through.
14. That Voting was counted among only the polling agents, USAG EC officials and some USAG executives under the Police contingent watch without any delegates’ audience present.
15. That University of Ghana SRC President led his team of students to vote and most of whose names were not in the delegates list as well as preventing the Distance Education and Accra City Campuses from voting whiles their names were in the list which was submitted initially.
16. That USAG Coordinating Secretary Hon. Abu, Secretary, Mr. Darkwa and other non USAG Executives who were not EC officials and illegally present at the voting premise allowed none registered participating institutions such as Methodist University College- Tema Campus, to vote using the exit point for entry; whiles the Wenchi campus was denied right of entry after an alarm was raised by a cross section of the delegates at the entry point and within 15 seconds the queue got vanished. NB// this amounted to a security threat.
17. That the EC allowed some institutions to vote without paying their dues as member institutions of the Union. NB// Why did the USAG Coordinating Secretary refused to display the list of registered schools if he had no agenda to pursue.
THE INCONSISTENT RESULTS OF 2015 USAG ELECTIONS
1. Total Registered Delegates Not declared.
2. Total ballot cast as counted by all 17 polling Agents present 310
3. Presidential as counted 371 (Over Voting)
4. Secretary as counted 328 (Over Voting)
5. Women’s Commission as counted 376 (Over Voting)
6. Coordinating Secretary as counted 311 (Over Voting)
7. Information and International Relations as counted 345 (Over Voting)
8. Financial Controller as counted 309
9. Treasurer as counted 309
10. Total Rejected ballot papers as counted Not declared
From the above results, it is beyond question to state clearly that the entire election was rigged to suit the mischievous agenda of some partisan side who felt they could take the law into their own hands. The elections outcome further also confirms that, the conduct of the 2015 elections contravenes Article 43. (2) of the USAG Constitution.
On this note, it is exceedingly obvious that the 2015 USAG elections must be re-conducted with full scale supervision by the national Electoral Commission that will yield a transparent, free and fair electoral result.
Team Raymond therefore expresses their deepest sympathy to all aspirants who were affected by this devastating incident and therefore pray that committees of USAG who are in CHARGE to redress this pending issue will do that in the fullest interest of the students’ front.
It is also hoped that justice will prevail in the end in other to promote peace and tranquility and consequently serve as a benchmark for succeeding generations to emulate. This will further consolidate our quest as a union that has come of age after 15 years of existence.
Finally, the question one will ask is the value we give to students for the contributions they make to USAG through their respective member institutions annually if these prevailing matters arise during the election of their leaders. 15 years of USAG what is the true storied achievements, her current state and prospective future.
Signed
Kobla Asamani
(Campaign Team Raymond)
2015 USAG Presidential Race
Cc:
1. Vice Chancellors Ghana
2. Dean of Students of all Universities in Ghana
3. All SRC’S
4. USAG
5. All 2015 USAG Aspirants
6. Media Networks
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