Court quashes rustication of 22 UCC students
The Cape Coast High Court, presided over by Justice William Boampong, has quashed the decision by the University of Cape Coast (UCC) to rusticate 22 students of the university.
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He also ordered the university to pay GH¢10,000 to each of the 22 students as compensation.
According to the judge, the university did not follow due process in imposing the sanctions on the students.
The judge said the counsel for the university (defendants) failed to present the Disciplinary Committee report to the court as evidence, adding that failure meant the decision of the university lacked the required merit.
Power
Mr Justice Boampong said although the university had the administrative power to impose sanctions on students who flouted the rules of the institution, the disciplinary committee should not have followed rigid procedures used in the court of law in punishing the students.
He indicated further that the conduct of the committee, therefore, meant the students were not given a fair hearing and its action, therefore, amounted to bias and ill-will.
Student
One of the students, Benjamin Sarfo, told the Daily Graphic after the proceedings at the court that, “We thank God for the great work He has done.”
He said the decision of the court “gives a feeling that our laws are working”.
He used the occasion to thank their counsel, the university’s alumni and well-wishers for their immense support during the trial.
The students later gathered at the forecourt of the Atlantic Hall of the UCC, sang and gave thanks to the Almighty.
Recall
Twenty-two students of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) were rusticated on May 19, 2017 for their inability to ensure the peaceful celebration of their hall week at the university.
Mostly executive members of the Atlantic Hall of the university, the rusticated students were to stay at home for two to four semesters for their various roles in the violence that resulted in the destruction of the university’s property and injury to some students.
They are Mr Enoch Abeiku Bart-Plange Tawiah, Bachelor of Education (Management); Ms Rose Attah, Bachelor of Commerce; Ms Mabel Anokwah, Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting); Mr Benjamin Sarfo, Bachelor of Commerce, and Mr Fred Appiah, Bachelor of Commerce (Finance).
Others are Mr Teddy Agyei-Darko, Bachelor of Commerce; Mr Lawrence Adu, Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting); Mr Collins Kaninge Sunglayeng, Bachelor of Education (Basic Education); Ms Mary Adu, Bachelor of Science (Nursing); Mr Michael Hamoulton Bada, Bachelor of Management Studies; Mr Seth Osei Amoah, Bachelor of Education (Management); Mr Raphael Oteng Ahenkorah, Bachelor of Arts (Social Sciences); Mr Patrick Owusu, Bachelor of Arts (Social Sciences); Mr Godfred Nana K. Ogoe, Bachelor of Education (Arts), and Prince Atta Senior Sarfo, Bachelor of Education (Social Sciences).
The rest are Ms Francisca Nyamekeh, Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Education); Mr Peter Amoah Donkor, Bachelor of Arts (Social Sciences); Richmond Adobe, Bachelor of Education (Mathematics); Mr Sekyere Quansah, Bachelor of Arts (Social Sciences); Mr Richmond Owusu Sekyere, Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology); Ms Ruby Dela Nutor, Bachelor of Arts (Social Sciences), and Mr Ferdinand Odame Kusi, Bachelor of Education (Mathematics).
The violence
On March 17, 2017, 10 people were left injured as a result of a clash among students of UCC, the University of Ghana (UG), Legon and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
The riots were said to have begun when visiting students of the UG and the KNUST, as well as some students of the Atlantic Hall of the UCC, attempted to enter the Oguaa Hall.
The students of Oguaa Hall prevented them from entering the hall and, in the ensuing melee, the rampaging students vandalised some rooms in the hall and smashed the windscreens of the Oguaa Hall bus and some vehicles parked in the vicinity.
One student, who sustained a spinal cord injury after he had been stabbed several times in the spine, was referred to the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.
An administrator of the UCC, Mr Ebenezer Donney, who had gone to help control the situation, was also injured.
Another person, an electrician, Alhassan Inusah, who had gone to the university to visit a brother living near the university, was also attacked by a group of students who thought he was one of the visiting students.
The authorities of the UCC promised to surcharge the students found culpable after the police had concluded their investigations.
A doctor at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Dr David Walawah, said one of the affected students might never be able to walk again.
The 22 students were invited by the police for questioning and later granted bail.
