UG tears down indiscriminate posters on its campus

Management of the University of Ghana (UG) in an earnest move has begun a cleaning exercise to rid the university campus of posters and adverts that have been hanged at places described as ‘prohibited’.

According to the University’s advertisement policy, the lecture halls, floors of buildings, pavements and roads, waste bins, lamp posts, trees. Signposts, staff and faculty buildings have classified as ‘prohibited’ areas to post advertisements.

Meanwhile, most organizations (i.e. churches, private organizations, political candidates) have flouted the regulations and splashed their posters on anything that has got a face.

However, in recent times renewed attention has been given to the protocol to arrest the indiscipline following Radio Univers #StopIndiscriminatePostingsNow campaign.

Since Wednesday, March 4, 2020, some members of the university security apparatus have been ostensibly seen peeling posters off lamp posts especially.

Campus Security personnel removing indiscriminate posters on lamp posts.

The move follows some decisions that were held at a dialogue between stakeholders and the university management in February to discontinue the illicit postings on the university campus.

The uniformed men have been tasked to remove posters that have been placed at unauthorized places.

Concerns over the exercise

Some students have however raised some concerns with the manner in which the exercise is being handled.

The students lamented over the absence of a notice notifying them of the commencement of the exercise. According to them, they would have wished for ample time to remove the posters and repost them at authorized places.



Peeled posters left on the ground under the lamp posts.

SRC aspirants who are major culprits to the menace have not been left out. Some of them have cried foul over the disappearance of their ‘banners’ in the wake of the poster-peeling exercise.

Some students also noted with anger the improper ways the uniformed men have disposed of the peeled posters. The posters were dumped under the lamp posts of which they were removed.

Background

The University of Ghana has been battling with the menace of indiscriminate posting as SRC aspirants, church groups and other entities have resorted to uncontrolled splashing of posters at unauthorized places on campus as a means of advertisement.

Radio Univers last year, began an active campaign to fight this problem, a move which led to other Universities adopting bold steps to ban indiscriminate postings on their various Campuses.

Last month, the Dean of Student Affairs at the University of Ghana, Professor Godfred Bopkin, issued a notice officially prohibiting all forms of postings at unauthorized places on campus.