Student leadership or
Student politics; the bitter truth
Politics and life are not bipartite concepts. They are so
inextricable inter-twined that in the helm of life lies politics. It must be
well noted that politics emerged as soon as society emerges where people come
together to make rules and decisions to guide themselves.
I agreed with Aristotle on this that, man is a political
animal and every man plays politics so far as we live in societies. He said
anyone who is apolitical is either a beast or a god. For the purpose of this
article, let me briefly explain what politics is.
Politics entails the authoritative allocation of values,
appropriation, disbursement and distribution of resources, raising of funds and
development.
Politics is about different kinds of government whether
democracy, monarchy, anarchy, oligarchy, phitocracy, theocracy, aristocracy or
other forms of dictatorship.
Democracy for instance, embraces participation, expression
of opinions, addressing diverse issues of concern, voting, and civic education
and other entrenched rights of citizens to achieve mutual goals.
There is no denying the intriguing fact that student
leaderships and politicking played a major role in the liberation of our
country from the manacles of colonialism.
Despite all these, naivety, apathy, betrayal, lack of
awareness and enlightenment have rendered the efficiency of our student
politics fallible and prone to many criticisms.
These criticisms overshadowed the relevance of student
politics. The perception of people toward student politics nowadays is so
disastrous that, many view student politics as mere jingoism, friction, and
exploitation of the student populace. In the Rotarians communities, they refer
to politics as “Politrick” (playing tricks on people).
This perception has convinced enough people that student
politics is not something to accept as part of our national politicking.
Like national leaders such as Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
(Ghana), Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria), Julius Nyerere (Tanzania), Patrice Lumumba
(Zaire), Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya), and Abdul Nasser (Egypt), many students such as
the late Mekki Abass of university of Ghana have shed their blood, sweat, tears
and sacrificed their lives for the student movement.
It took some students of old to cook what is the biggest
best organized student body in the history of Ghana– the National Union of
Ghana Student (NUGS) founded in 1965.
NUGS is credited with the creation of National Service
Scheme since it was the union that advocated for its establishment. NUGS is no
doubt a great institution.
However, its reputation has been soiled by petty squabbles
in recent times between national executives, where in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012
academic years for example, NUGS had two persons both addressing themselves as
presidents of the union without any sense of ignominy.
A contributing factor to the above issue is the irrefutable
fact that the union is been controlled by the invisible hands of the dominant
political parties in Ghana- the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National
Democratic Party (NDC).
Sad to note that these two parties see their political
fortunes and survival in the nation’s geopolitical terrain as tied to the apron
string of NUGS and have sparred nothing in their attempt to divide the union,
not to talk of the Government-sponsored impeachments of NUGS presidents in 2005
and 2010.
Believe me, no sacrifice can be considered too great when it
is a question of carrying through the purpose of the student movement.
It is inexcusable to see student leaders of today,
conducting themselves in ways that dash the confidence of the Ghanaian people
in the student leaderships across the country.
By their actions, student leaderships such as Student
Representative Council (SRCs), National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Trainee
Teachers’ Association of Ghana (TTAG) and University Students Association of
Ghana (USAG) across the country have been halted and the rights of students are
constantly being trampled upon by those who are supposed to know better.
Modeling a more responsible and responsive student
leadership, the ultimate objectives of our student leaderships are to pursue
and champion the general interest of all students. Student leaderships must
among others advocate for the following:
1. Prevail on Governments and Heads of institutions to do
their best to create a congenial atmosphere for students to excel academically.
Call for reforms in our curricula to be sync with the dictates of the 21st
century labor market.
2. Give policy guidelines to national government by insuring
that, quality education is made available and accessible not only to the rich
but also to the poor and the impoverished. Student leadership must insist on
changing our educational policy from quantity to quality to safeguard against
poverty.
3. Must fight poverty and mass illiteracy together with
government with student leaderships leading the way. Examples are seen, where a
group of students led by a former SRC president of University of Ghana, Agbana
Eric Edem, formed a network called Volunteers Ghana, and the Volta Region
Students Association (VORSA) and countless of other student initiatives which I
cannot mention here, seek to offer Voluntary Teaching Services and Community
Impact Projects to deprived communities within Ghana to alleviate the suffering
of the Ghanaian children in these deprived communities, where we share our
expertise, knowledge and life experiences for the younger generation to learn
from. This spirit of voluntarism is what we need as a country to progress
forward.
4. Must desist from opposing policies of governments and
university authorities without providing workable alternatives which must be
based on thorough research and consultation of appropriate authorities.
Finally, student leaderships need to lead the crusade to
sanitize our national political discourse as is done elsewhere in Tunisia,
Yemen, Egypt and the USA.
Leaderships have to maintain decorum in their affairs and
bring sanity to our body politics as the various blocs seek to elect new
executives in the-not-too-distance-future. Let add to our faith a conscience
quick to feel, hope and to hope and good leadership conscience.
There is a call on us to leave a legacy that inspire the
future generations and generations yet unborn.
Banini, Kwasi Philip. "Student Leadership or Student
Politics; The Bitter Truth - Graphic Online." Graphic Online | Home. N.p.,
3 July 2015. Web. 6 July 2015.
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