University student expelled

The University of Ghana, Legon, on Wednesday announced the dismissal of Kenneth Ashaley Morgan, an M Phil (Part1) student of the Department of Nutrition and Food Science for extorting various sums of money from three other students of the University.

A statement issued in Accra by the University said Morgan extorted the money from the three, under the pretext of securing accommodation for them in Jubilee Hall of the University. According to the statement, three others, Eric Asare Akuoku, a national service person at the Office of International Programmes of the University, Ms Jeanette Ewurama Hagan and Ms Sylvia Otema Darko, a Level 400 and a Level 200 Humanities student respectively, had also been sanctioned for their complicity in the matter.

It said a committee of enquiry set up to investigate the matter found out that Morgan previously did his national service at the International Programmes Office of the University. He was subsequently appointed Assistant Co-ordinator of the University's Study Abroad Consortium (USAC) based at the University. It said Morgan extorted sums of money from the two female students. It did not specify the amount.

He also demanded three million cedis from another female student, out of which an initial one million cedis was paid to him He has therefore, been directed to pay the money to the victims. He statement said the committee found Akuoku to have aided and abetted Morgan to carry out the extortion. Akuoku has accordingly been withdrawn from his national service posting and banned from postgraduate study at the University.

Ms. Hagan and Ms Darko on the other hand were found by the Committee to have yielded to the demands of the extortionist. Their residency in the Jubilee Hall has therefore been revoked. They would also be denied residency in any other University hall or hostel for the remainder of their stay in the University.