“Call me Naadu, and I will do the work for you.” That was the commitment the UGSRC General Secretary aspirant as she then was, Stephanie Naadu Antwi, made to us. Indeed, we took her word for it, elected her as our (literally – I voted for Jonelle) Secretary, and promoted her to the position of president when we lacked one. We called her for a task she never aspired for nor saw herself on. Yet, she did the work for us. Twice.
I hesitate to sing praises on leaders who do what they are mandated to do. But I can’t defeat the temptation to announce my excitement about the wonder I saw of Naadu and her executives on the night of 4/5th February 2022. For the first time in almost two years, they have given back to the student body, their General Assembly. Something they had been denied for a full academic year that lasted more than an academic year should. Safe to say that the UGSRC has been reset.
The restoration of GA glorifies out SRC again
The UGSRC General Assembly, being the legislature of the UGSRC, approves all decisions of the SRC. It puts the other arms of the SRC to check. Including the executive council which spearheads the monetary transactions of the SRC. Without the assembly, we have an SRC that does as it wishes with no one to render accounts to. Without it, the SRC throws away the Charles Pratt principle of ‘no representation no taxation.’
An SRC that takes dues from students should have them represented in a house that oversees its appropriation. It is for the importance of representation that the framers of our constitution put the dictates about GA in the third schedule of the constitution. Following only the schedules on the constitution itself and the objectives of the SRC. If we had an administration that threw away this all-important assembly, then, the administration that restores it is worthy of praise. Especially, one that is filled by, mostly, officers who are in acting capacities.
Naadu asked to be secretary and we gave her the presidency, Nana Yaw Okyere, the Ag. General Secretary, asked for nothing and we asked him to be secretary, Prince Arthur only wanted to serve his JCR and we gave him SRC in addition, but together, they’ve restored dignity in our SRC. And it’s a pleasure.
I admonish them to continue to deliver because when they falter beyond bearable, we won’t remember how they started.
