‘Queen Elizabeth came to Ghana just to greet the Chief Vandal’ – Former JCR president claims

Bernard Oduro Takyi, a former JCR president of Commonwealth Hall, University of Ghana, has asked the management of the university to maintain the reputation and tradition of the Commonwealth Hall and not seek to alter its current status.

He argued that it is unconstitutional for the university administration to attempt to remove all male students enrolled in Mensah Sarbah Hall and the Commonwealth Hall.

Making a case for why the long-standing repute and tradition of the hall should be kept, he claimed that because of the hall's status, Queen Elizabeth II, flew from the United Kingdom in 1957 to honour the Chief Vandal of the hall.

“In 2023 they want to sack every student here and bring in only freshmen, and we’re saying no. This hall that you see, a whole queen Elizabeth came from the UK to greet our chief vandal in 1957 and you think we will sit down for one vice chancellor with professorship to change that hall, she is joking,” Bernard Oduro Takyi angrily said.

The former JCR president of the Commonwealth Hall in an interview with GhanaWeb argued that the University has systems in place to address housing difficulties and that the management violated the appropriate legislation and took unconstitutional measures.

The Management of the University of Ghana last December revoked the accommodation of all continuing male students of the Commonwealth and Mensah Sarbah Halls after another round of clashes involving the two feuding halls.

According to a statement signed by the Registrar of the University on December 14, 2022, the residents are to be randomly assigned to available rooms in any of the University of Ghana Enterprise Limited Hostel (UGEl) and private hostels.

The statement further mentioned that continuing female students of Mensah Sarbah Hall and students with special needs in both halls will not be affected.



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