Highlights Of The First Sitting Of University Of Ghana General Assembly
The General Assembly is the Legislative Arm of the Students’ Representative Council and had its first sitting of the Second Semester of the 2016/2017 Academic year on the 8th day of February at the Conference room of the SRC Union Building.
The meeting which according to the circular inviting members and other students was to start at 7:00 pm ended starting well after 9:30 pm and this has been the characteristic of the University of Ghana students legislature much to the chagrin of members who kept murmuring and complaining of the disorderly nature with which the meeting was organized.
The Speaker and his entourage then filed in paving way for the commencement of proceedings in the house. A prayer was said by the Deputy Speaker of the house in the person of Honorable Isaac Dzamesi and then the call to order was made for proceedings to continue.
And then a near hitch occurred when the Clerk of the General Assembly who was the Secretary to the house was absent and had to be replaced by The head of the Secretarial Committee of the SRC, Mr. Gilles Ametepe after approval by members of the house.
After which deliberations on the minutes of the previous meeting began in earnest. Apparently the minutes from the last meeting was ridden with errors – from grammatical errors to wrong style of format hence a honorable member of the house moved for the setting aside of the minutes and also called for the remaking of the minutes and requested that it be sent to the email of honorable members of the house.
This was seconded and a vote was cast to which majority of members agreed to. And so officially, the minutes of the previous meeting was not accepted as a working document of the house.
Thereon, new member of the General Assembly – newly elected JCR presidents and Secretaries, representatives from clubs and schools were duly sworn in as members of the General Assembly as well as the new head of the finance Committee in the person of Ms. Ruhaina Razak.
After this came one of the most important aspect of the meeting – the Reading of the State of the SRC by the President of the SRC – Her Excellency Ms. Esinam Afi Seade who pointed out some achievements of the SRC in the first semester and first part of her tenure.
She made mention of the UG Secretarial Hub whose aim was to train the Secretaries of the various JCRs and associations on Campus, she also mentioned the Akwaaba brunch organized on the 24th of September to welcome newly admitted University of Ghana students into the University Community as well as the Ladypreneur Summit organized to create a network of ladies on campus who are into entrepreneurship.
The others are the Dare to Start challenge, the passport and Birth certificate facilitation and also the UG Finance Hub and Financial Literacy Celebration which was organized to upgrade the skills of treasurers and financial Secretaries on campus.
After her address, the Speaker opened the house up for discussion of the address and it’s subsequent acceptance. A litany of questions were thrown at the President.
Some which she answered satisfactorily and some which didn’t go down well with the members of the house particularly the levying of GHC 30.00 as fuelling fee for the plants acquired by the various halls in the heat of the Energy crisis that plagued the country, which students were to pay before they are allowed entry into their rooms for the second semester.
After this, it was time for the Projects and Programs Committee of the SRC to present for acceptance or otherwise the Projects and Programs the SRC wanted to undertake this semester but this eventually led to the adjournment of the house because some members of the house refused to accept the one who was to make the presentation because he had not been introduced to the house and had not been sworn in too.
The Speaker entertained a motion for a recess to allow the leadership of the house solve the issue for proceedings to begin but there couldn’t be an agreement and the house was adjourned pending solution to that debacle.
Therefore the first sitting of the General Assembly ended inconclusively around 5:30 am the next morning – as almost 8 hours had been spent on a few items on the agenda of the house with the meeting that started around 9:30 pm on the 8th day of February ending at 5:30 am on the 9th day of February.
The Speaker then was to fix another date for the house to reconvene to finish off the business of the first sitting and clear off the itinerary left on the agenda – Projects and Programs for the semester, the budget statement for the semester and also the Constitution of the Vetting panel as well as AOB (Any Other Business) before closure.
5 pm, 11th February was the day set to finish the business of the first sitting of the house this Semester and as usual the meeting never started at the appointed time and there was almost three hour delay before proceedings in the house began.
The Projects and Programs Committee head presented the SRC’s Projects and Programs for the semester which included: the SRC hostel project, Summer huts to be constructed at JQB and Athletic Oval, SRC business and Archive Center, SRC Medicare, SRC donation of a toll free line to UG securitySRC welfare Project and SRC Week Celebration.
The others were Miss Legon pageant, Passport and Birth Certificate project, Legon Speakers Congress and Exit Strategy
Some of these projects were not approved by the House because there were inadequate documents accompanying it for the house to approve and some were also outrightly rejected – The SRC Week Celebration headlining that category.
After this, the Budget Statement for the Second Semester was read to the house by Honorable Ampofo Prince Amoah, the treasurer of the SRC.
The total expected revenue for the Semester was GHC 211,383.95 and the Estimated Revenue being GHC 198,800.00 with a surplus of GHC 12,583.95.
After the budget statement was read and consequently accepted by the house, the house appointed a 7 man Vetting panel who will be in charge of Vetting prospective Electoral Commission candidates. This 7 members committee includes Abagi Abila Saraphina, Nana Akua Afriyie Busia, Evans Kofi Adanya and Smith Cudjoe John. The others are Eugene Ackon Mensah, Samuel Duku and Smith Andam.
After this, proceedings were brought to a successful end to climax the official closure of the first sitting of the SRC General Assembly.