UCC to pay GHS220k to 22 sacked students

A Cape Coast High Court has ordered authorities of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) to reinstate 22 students who were sacked for their alleged involvement in violence during the Oguaa Hall Week Celebration in May this year.

It is recalled that in May this year, 10 people were injured following the clash between some students of UCC and some students of the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Following that, UCC authorities suspended the 22 students for their involvement. But dissatisfied with the action, the affected students filed a suit in court.

Accordingly, the Presiding Judge Kwesi Dapaah, on Friday, December 8 upheld the argument of the lawyer for the students to the effect that the executives were being made scapegoats as they were not directly linked to the crime, and also that they were not given a fair hearing by the university.

The students were rusticated before invited to meet the disciplinary committee of the school.

Their pictures, he argued, were also plastered on the school’s notice board before they were invited to appear before the committee.

The court awarded cost of GHS220,000 against the university. Each student is to receive GHS10,000 as compensation.