The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) chapter of the Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRASSAG) last Friday defied a court injunction and swore in newly-elected executives into office.
On the night of Friday 12 May, 2017, embattled GRASSAG executives refused to be restrained by the court, following electoral malpractices and inaugurated the newly elected executives at the KNUST Great Hall, where top ranking members of the university authorities witnessed the illegality.
The nocturnal inauguration was fused into the swearing-in ceremonies of the KNUST Students Representative Council (SRC), local National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) and the International Students Association (ISA) in the face of an interim injunction.
A High Court order granted by Judge Beresford Acquah to Mr. Stephen Osei-Gyasi (Plaintiff), intercepted by The Chronicle read: “I hereby order that the EC and Kusi Boakye be restrained from having any dealings with the swearing-in of the newly elected executives of GRASSAG-KNUST, either by the defendants /respondents, their privies, agents, workmen, etc, pending the determination of the suit”.
The ten-day injunction was issued on May 4, 2017, but authorities at KNUST have ignored the high court order by his Lordship Bereford Acquah and sworn the elected officers into office.
The Kumasi High Court placed a ten-day interim injunction on the Electoral Commission and out-going KNUST-GRASSAG president, Kusi-Boakye, over electoral malpractices, hampering the induction of newly elected executives ,who were elected on April 7 and 8, 2017.
In a suit, Stephen Osei-Gyasi versus the Electoral Commission (EC), the former, who happens to be the campaign manager of Mr. Cephas Bayor, who contested in the just ended KNUST- GRASSAG elections, prayed the court that the composition of the vetting committee was skewed, in that, the senate speaker and GRASSAG Student Representative Council vice president forced their way into the vetting committee, even though they were not supposed to be on the said committee.
In the face of the questions about legality of the vetting constitution, KNUST-GRASSAG went ahead and voted for Mr. Osei-Gyasi, though his (plaintiff) counsel, Maxwell Bosea, complained to the court that during the election, most of the students could not vote, because the computer which was used to conduct the polls in some areas were faulty, which disenfranchise some of the students.
According to counsel Bosea, his client had exhausted all the local legal channels on the KNUST campus, but his grievances were not heard, hence they dragged the issue to court for redress.
The court consequently granted an order for interim injunction, thus -“Ihereby order that the EC and Kusi Boakye be restrained from having any dealings with the swearing-in of the newly elected executives of GRASSAG-KNUST, either by the defendants/respondents, their privies,
agents, workmen etc, pending the determination of the suit”.
In a telephone interaction with the head of communication at KNUST, Mr. Kwame Yeboah Jnr, he confirmed to the paper that newly-elected KNUST GRASSAG executives have been sworn into office.
According him, GRASSAG held an election and some groups raised issues about the electoral process, but their petition did not reach the appropriate office for inquiry, adding that the issue is in court and he cannot delve into it.
The university official noted that even though the dean of students and the office of the Vice Chancellor were not served, he confirmed to The Chronicle that indeed some KNUST GRASSAG executives were served with the injunction.
From Richard Owusu-Akyaw, Kumasi
