‘NUGS should be fixed, its image must be protected’ – Francisca Lynn Willis

A former aspirant for the Secretary for Finance at the 2021 National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) elections, Francisca Lynn Willis, wants the mother body of all student unions in the country “fixed” to salvage its image.

In an interview on Campus Exclusive, she explained that NUGS is “a core place where students get to practically practice leadership” hence her call.

The aspirant who battled it out with Akwasi Sarpong for the Secretary of Finance portfolio garnered 425 votes after the initial count of her ballot papers but had her votes sharply decline to 143 votes after a request for a recount.

Commenting on the incident, Francisca Lynn Willis indicated that she has no reason to suspect foul play in the elections which took place on Monday 3rd May, 2021 at the Madina Institute of Science and Technology but maintained that she “didn’t like the process” she had to go through.

“I have no suspicions. I only pray and hope that the NUGS is also fixed because this is a core place where students get to practically practice leadership….where students call for accountability and if it in the gutters then what are we actually.

”The image of the National Union of Ghana Students must be protected…we need to protect it not just elections but everything. I lost and I have taken it in good fate. I just didn’t like the process that I had to go through,” she said.

Giving chilling details of security setup on the grounds of the elections, Francisca Lynn Willis decried the heavy involvement of security personnel in the electoral process stating that they were “deciding”.

She alleged that national security personnel were at point picking ballot boxes and sending it to a bus adding that “what they want to do would have been done”

“You know these muscular men, I, Francisca Lynn Willis, can’t go and tell them that hey bring the ballot boxes. This was a student where they were supposed to secure us, protect us but they were rather deciding,” the distraught aspirant said.

The NUGS Congress was under the theme “Student Leadership In the Midst of Covid-19 Pandemic: Taking Stock of Our Progress, Looking Into The Future”.