THIS IS NOT PROPAGANDA!
Dear Legon Voter,
In this write-up, our aim as followers of truth is to tell the truth about why the UG SRC elections have been postponed indefinitely.
On Saturday 8th April, 2017, the Electoral Commissioner, Mr.Nyamador had a meeting with all the candidates. As part of the discussions, he stated that the elections were not going to be conducted manually (thumb print balloting) as agreed by the SRC General Assembly due to issues of finances which were yet to be sorted. In addition to this, he and his deputies explained that, the e-voting system could not be taken away since the contract with the developer, Mr. Forson had not yet ended. The way forward then was the e-voting system; BUT with the inclusion of a voter print out. For the avoidance of doubt, the print out is a small piece of paper which follows after one has voted electronically as a means of limiting the extent of rigging. The print out system as agreed at this meeting was only a confirmation of what the Dean of Student Affairs had earlier indicated in an interview with Radio Univers, a few weeks ago.
However, the candidates in this year’s elections (not all) perceived a number of inconsistencies and as such called for a meeting to really confirm that a print out was going to be used. At the meeting, the candidates present unanimously tasked Schandorf to write a petition to the Vice Chancellor pleading his involvement for the use of a manual system or a print out system, after which they would all sign.
Otting (Levels) and Maame Serwaa were all absent for the meeting despite the numerous calls from Sly, Pascal, Fafa Esi and the rest of the candidates. The petition was to be followed by a court injunction which was to halt the process until a credible system had been well agreed on.
On Monday, 10th April, 2017, the concerned aspirants, *excluding Maame Serwaa, Levels and Ethel* met in the law school gardens to deliberate on the way forward in respect of the injunction in order to clear matters. Calls to get Maame Serwaa, Levels and Ethel to affirm their participation once again proved futile. When Otting was finally reached, he refused to speak on the issue and hanged up on Sly who had called him out of respect and courtesy. Schandorf also suffered a similar feat in the hands of Ethel who after refusing to answer many calls gave the excuse that her network had been terribly bad. Also, though Maame Serwaa had been spotted sharing online WhatsApp campaign messages, getting through to her was still a difficulty.
This aroused some levels of suspicions and also painted the picture that, these three aspirants who had earlier been endorsed by TESCON were up to a certain mischief. This was however a speculation based on their lukewarm attitudes towards the placing of the injunction and the call for a print out or a manual system.
Do walls really have ears? Maybe they do; and this time they heard all Derrick Abotsi had to say! In his usual chatty mood, Derrick in a conversation with some of his friends around Sarbah Hall started off by narrating how Maame Serwaa was forcefully pushed through vetting despite her inability to meet the 70% mark. Being a member of the vetting panel, he stated emphatically that Maame Serwaa made a total of 62% and that he Derrick had to adjust his scores sheet to favour the girlfriend of his former boss, Mikdad Mohammed to pass through the vetting. No wonder Maame Serwaa only managed with 70.05%; thanks to Mr. Derrick Abotsi. Watching the vetting process, many could not understand how Schandorf made 78.75% percent, 2% ahead of Levels who made 76.75%. Also there were shocks as to why Sly despite his good show ended up as third behind Otting Awuah (Levels). Well, Derrick Abotsi had the answers to these too.
Without mincing words, Derrick revealed how Julian Cobbinah (Ascorbic), the current NUGS President and some other persons had advised him and some other members of the vetting panel to decrease the gap between Schandorf and Otting in case there was any, such that Otting would not look “widely incompetent”. According to him, even though Sly did better than Otting for which he should have finished second after Schandorf, that would have jeopardized the chances of Otting hence the scores adjustment. And so without manipulation, Abotsi as a member of the vetting panel admitted that, Schandorf should have finished first with 88%, followed closely by Sly with 82%, and Otting with 71%! Abosti further added that Ascorbic and some other cohorts had worked everything out in favour of Otting, Maame Serwaa and Ethel on the day of voting.
This was justice swept under the carpet, but was it going to really continue? Well, on the evening of Monday 10th April, a loose conversation between one of Forson’s aides and another student openly revealed that, the suggestions of a print out was a hoax and that the e-voting system was going to be in force the following day. The plan according to him was that, Akuafo Hall and Legon Hall (halls of Maame Serwaa, Ethel and Levels respectively) would have a smooth process whiles the other halls had some delays. It was no surprise that indeed on the day of elections, these two halls had a comparatively better process. The ultimate plan was to make Legon Hall and Akuafo vote first after which others would do so. Fortunately, this conversation was overhead by one of the university security personnel stationed at the SRC union building who made it known to some of the candidates.
This is what precisely what sparked the urgent call for an immediate postponement of the elections since all the plans arranged earlier were perfectly working to favour Levels, Maame Serwaa and Ethel. Sly, Billton Pascal, Kezia, Schandorf, Daakyehene and Fafa Esi upon getting this information quickly got to the union building were a crunch meeting with the EC led to said postponement. Supporters and managers of the various teams were also in attendance.
Surprisingly, again Otting (Levels), Maame Serwaa and Ethel did not show up for this meeting too; and attempts to reach them by their colleagues yielded no results. At this time, spotted around the SRC union building was Derrick Abotsi who was seen making “distress calls” narrating how plans had backfired openly. Maybe after all, Derrick Abotsi is not a good strategist who can keep “secrets” and “caucus information”.
There is no doubt that the plotters of the rigging are sad. The most affected probably is Ethel Donkor who is said to have shown off some parts of her dignity in order to be added to the “rigging list”. Remember, TESCON officially endorsed Maame Serwaa, Otting and Ethel, and according to Derrick Abotsi once again, Ethel was the last consideration but joined the list through “an exchange”.
The truth is out, and we are grateful. Why should people go around and campaign only for 3 people who all didn’t even excel at vetting except for manipulations to become SRC executives? The students’ interest would surely stand when UG goes manual or a print out!
® The Truth Squad.