Ag. University of Ghana Students' Representative Council Presid8ent, Stephanie Naadu's appointment is more of a ceremonial orientation than an administrative orientation. She was elected by the student populace as a general secretary to take records of the UGSRC and write minutes among other things. However, owing to the impasse between the two substantive UGSRC presidential candidates at the Court of Appeal, she was appointed by the school management to spearhead, supervise and steer the affairs of students within the Union Building.
It is quite unfortunate for the declared winner and plaintiff, Prince Asumadu who sought redress at the Accra High Court to be sworn in as the duly elected president, which went in his favour. The respondent, the previous Chief Justice had sought for appeal at the Court of Appeal to overturn the ruling of the high court to install Samuel Amos Ofosu as the validly elected president.
Stephanie Naadu has been fortunate and she needs to take advantage of the situation to explore herself and enrich her potential. She has been at the centre stage of activities and events on campus. The controversial swearing-in of Naadu was much anticipated by students on the eve of the election malpractices.
Naadu's appointment of committee heads had generated tensions as students argue over her appointment of a level 200 student as the head of the sponsorship committee, Xosasline. Students had questioned her credibility and competence and had suggested she became the deputy head to learn on the job. Some had also taken sides by contending that it was an opportunity for the young girl to learn on the job and tap her God-given talents. The worse scenario was when she appointed Nana Yaw Okyere as the Ag. Secretary of the UGSRC, who doubles as the head of the publicity Committee and automatically the Public Relations Officer. She had joined the trail of her counterpart at the Kwame, Nkrumah University-KNUST to appoint the Junior Common Room President-JCR Limman hall as her Chief of Staff, Albert. Students had challenged why she refused to appoint Bra Kofi of Mensah Sarbah hall as the Vice President of the UGSRC but rather Prince Arthur of Legon Hall. Her administration has been described as family and friends intended to reward party faithful. What was jovial is when she appointed Nana Yaw Okyere as Ag. Secretary during his birthday. Cohorts like the former Public Relations Officer of the SRC, TESCON Presidential candidate and Agyenim Boateng general secretary hopeful for TESCON had described his appointment as a birthday gift on their WhatsApp status. That is the milestone student leadership has reached.
She had been charged with contempt by the student populace when she said students of the University of Ghana would be the last candidates to embark on a demonstration on the eve of the strike by the University Students Association-UTAG. She is known for her loyalty to the ruling party and bias on the part of students.
Maybe we should credit her for some degree of intelligence as she did not contest the presidential elections, but, it came by accident or default. She has hit below the belt and much is expected from her.
She had been found to have issued a communique signed by her addressing that beneficiaries of the SRC YIBIBOA Scholarship Scheme could not refund their funds. Attempts to get her to intervene in the situation and get the Student Aid to reverse the obnoxious decision against the less privileged students had proved futile. Maybe students should remind her that she was elected Secretary to pursue the interests of students in the first place which has won her the presidency. She is supposed to fight and defend the course of students.
Naadu's administration defaulted on the directives by the University management to appoint her Committee Heads within a specific time frame. Up till now, she has not been able to appoint members of various committees for the successful management and steering of the affairs of the UGSRC.
Her Excellency, Stephanie Naadu is marked for seminars, symposia, lectures and conferences. Upon her assumption of office, she had undertaken a literacy programme to her credit, forgetting that students are facing substantive challenges such as their inability to pay their fees, accommodation crises, strike action and many others.
She has failed in her first 100 days upon assumption of office. She has performed abysmally and she needs to back up. Her confrontations with the Speaker of the General Assembly are in the news. Recent publications have spoken unfavourably about the USRC under her watch as Ag. UGSRC President.
She ought to resign the position as the President and carry out her mandate as General Secretary like her counterpart, the Treasurer, Daniel Obeng Asamoah denied the Ag. Vice Presidential Position. This will show her sense of maturity, discipline and loyalty to the entire students that put her at the position of trust.
Source: Walking Encyclopaedia.Blogspot.com
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