The last one month has been an eventful moment in the life of the Republic of Gambia and the ECOWAS especially after their presidential election where Yahya Jammeh’s 22 years reign as the head of state of Gambia was put to an end by the citizens who voted against him.
Ghanaian Students seem to have divided views on the current development in the in the last few days following the swearing in of Adama Barrow as the president of Gambia in Senegal when Yahya Jammeh has fille an application at the supreme court of Gambia to constitutionally challenge the outcome of the results.
In as much as a section of students express their utmost disgust and disappointment at Yahya Jammeh for refusing to step down to make way for the inauguration of the newly elected president and the subsequent developments where the newly elected president had to be sworn into office outside his home country in Senegal, and in as much as another section of students are disappointed in the ECOWAS and the west for facilitating the inauguration of Adama Barrow as the president of Gambia when Yahya Jammeh has filled an application at the supreme court of Gambia to constitutionally challenge the outcome of the election results, let us remember we have a similar situation on our hand at the frontline of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) where two gentlemen are parading themselves as NUGS presidents with different executives.
The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) is a non-political, non-partisan and a non-religious progressive mass movement that seeks to fight for the rights of students and the youth of Ghana who are in Ghana and abroad. It is the umbrella body of all students movements from basic school to the highest educational level (PhD). The union is made up of various blocs namely the TTAG which comprises of teacher trainees, USAG which comprises of university students, RSRC which comprises of students in senior high schools, vocational and technical institutions in each region of Ghana, GRASSAG which comprises of graduate students either offering their masters or Phd, GNUPS which comprises of polytechnic students, GUPS which comprises of students in professional institutions such as the Ghana Institute of Journalism among others and NAHSAG which comprises of students in all health training institutions in Ghana.
Though the constitution of the union has a strong stand on non partisanship of the union, political parties have penetrated and found their way to control the leadership of the union in recent years. The union which was a very formidable union and was envied by TUC, GNAT etc. in the not too distant past and could shake the foundations of government to heed to the demands of the Ghanaian students is now a pale shadow of it former glory. Leaders of union who take oaths to protect and defend the interest of students are now rather protecting and defending the interest of their political parties.
Luqman Abubakar (the gentleman in smock) is a student of the University for Development Studies, his counterpart Julian Mawuse Cobbinah (the gentleman in suit) is a student of the GIMPA law school. Both of them are laying claims to the presidency of NUGS, each of them are from the camps of the two major political parties in Ghana. The two of them bought forms to contest the presidency of NUGS, and appeared before the vetting committee together with two other gentlemen. One of them sensing that the ground was not favourable for him and knowing he was going to lose, didn’t attend the legitimate congress but organised another congress for himself in another institution where he declared himself president of NUGS and appointed people who per the NUGS constitution should be elected as General secretary, Coordinating secretary, Press and information secretary, Women’s Commissioner etc.
There are millions of Ghanaian students whose destiny depends on the actions and inactions of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS). As we congratulate former President John Mahama, President Mahamudu Buhari of Nigeria and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia for trying to negotiate with Yahya Jammeh for the sake of peace in the Gambia, I humbly implore the alumni of NUGS, government, traditional leaders and the clergy to also try and help us resolve the current impasse in NUGS. Let us remember the Ghanaian adage ‘charity begins at home’.
Let us not forget the numerous contributions NUGS has made to the improvement of education in Ghana. If for nothing at all, the GETfund and the National Service Scheme came into existence because of NUGS, let us also not forget the role NUGS played just last year to get government rescind its decision to make students pay utility bills which could have raised the school fees of students.
NUGS has been a training and nurturing ground for most politicians. We can make mention of Hon. Dan Botwe who is an accomplished politician and was the NUGS General Secretary in 1982, Hon. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa and the numerous politicians who got their leadership training from leading the union in one capacity or the other.
There are hints that the Minister of Education designate who is a former NUGS President could recognise the ‘fake’ NUGS President because he is from his political caucus. He must be advised not to make that hasty decision, other wise the blocs of NUGS who voted for the legitimate executives of the union could rally the students within their jurisdiction against the government of the day for condoning an illegality.