Students move to block extension of VC's contract

THE VICE Chancellor (VC) of the University of Ghana-Legon, Prof. Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, is currently on tenterhooks as a Three-Member Committee has been set up to consider his bid for a year's extension of his four-year contract that comes to an end on September 30, 2006.

The Committee, Chaired by Cardinal Peter Turkson, is to review the performance of the VC since he assumed office, and take a decision by September 30, 2005, on whether or not, to extend his contract for a year.

In consonance with the Cardinal Turkson review committee's request to stakeholders and interest groups to submit memoranda, submissions and comments that would aid it in the execution of its work, a group of students of the University calling itself, Vice Chancellor Extension Resistance Movement (V-CERG) has moved to block the VC's ambition for another one-year term in office.

The V-CERG has sent a ten-point petition to the review committee stating reasons why Prof. Asenso-Okyere should not be given any chance to serve as the Chief Executive officer of the Nation's premier University.

The student group points out that it is during the leadership of the current VC that the institution had experienced a number of "avoidable" civil strife among stakeholders and a number of in-house quarrels "as evidenced in the recent pronouncements by the Dean of students on the issue of perching which clearly showed that there was no consensus among authorities in taking decisions."

The V-CERG also stated in the petition that during the tenure of the VC, there had been, " the embarrassing dismissal of students due to corrupt concessionary admissions," and a huge withdrawal of students numbering 600 to 900, without he taking steps to look at the causes of the continuous trend of having a large a number of students under performing.

Another point contained in the petition of the student resistance group is that the VC, since he assumed office, had failed to address problems he came to inherit such as that of the acute accommodation and, "poor tuition which is as a result inadequate logistics."

The VC, according to the petitioners, had presided over the canker of examination leakages without enough efforts being made to see to the end of the problem, until during the last mass examination leakages which prompted a lot of media condemnations, which compelled him to set up the "Mfodwo committees to look into the issue."

Prof. Asenso-Okyere has also been accused of not providing a visionary leadership, "as was being done by his colleagues in other Universities" and as having introduced obnoxious policies like the cancellation of the Interim Assessment (I A) and the In-Out-Out-In residential policy.

Meanwhile, students continue to debate on the performance of the VC and patiently wait to see whether the efforts of their colleagues in the V-CERG would have an impact.