Choose between politics and lectures

A number of students of the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana, Legon have complained that the NDC General Secretary, Dr Josiah Aryeh has been devoting much of his academic period to attending to political activities.

Investigations conducted by “The Statesman” during the past weeks have shown that the senior lecturer failed to turn up for lectures during the periods of the four by-elections. “Even on Wednesday, Dr Aryeh failed to give a lecture on Succession at 7am, because he chose instead to go to Gomoa East Constituency for the by-election,” one of his students who declined to give his name told “The Statesman” on Tuesday.

The students further complained that their lecturer on Monday took-off in the middle of a lecture period to sit beside his party’s founder, ex-President Rawlings, who held a press conference that day. The students who talked to the “The Statesman” bitterly complained: “Our lecturer just come to the lecture hall and hurriedly brush through topics whenever he has political activities to attend.

“The Statesman” learnt that there are seven core subjects, which a student has to pass before proceeding to the next level. Dr Ayeh, the students said, handles two subjects, namely, Succession and Jurisprudence but his “frequent absenteeism has been a problem for some of us.”

According to some of the students, questions are set for submission to the University authorities during mid-semester and, therefore, failure by lecturers to complete topics within the stipulated time affects the students’ academic output. The students said even though Dr Ayeh is a competent lecturer, they believe combining politics with his academic work is impacting negatively on his knowledge on his students.

“We are the losers and the authorities must do something about it,” complained one student. Another added: “Law is an intensive course and a lukewarm attitude of a law lecturer undermines the noble profession.” They, therefore, advised Dr Aryeh to divorce himself from active political activities in order to deliver “quality, devoted and practical tuition to his students.