Isaac Jay Hyde, President of NUGS
The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has backed the decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) to register final year Senior High School students, who are currently in school, on their respective campuses.
According to the parent student body, it will be unconstitutional for the EC, any person or group of persons to intentionally or unintentionally take steps that will seek to disenfranchise qualified Ghanaians.
Isaac Jay Hyde, the president of NUGS, addressing a press conference yesterday in Accra, served notice that NUGS will not shy away from seeking legal redress if the students are disenfranchised by the EC through whatsoever means.
According to NUGS, “the constitution of the Republic stipulates that every Ghanaian of age 18 years and above and of sound mind is eligible to participate in electing who becomes the leader, both in the parliamentary and presidential elections organised in the country.”
Mr Hyde has, thus, called on civil society organisations, political parties, the Peace Council and all stakeholders to join in the call for the EC to get the youth, especially students who are in schools and meet the age criteria, registered.
Position on Covid-19
The NUGS president further stated that they do not agree with those who are calling for the closure of schools due to the recording of some positive cases of the novel coronavirus in some schools.
He entreated the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to collaborate to come up with precautionary measures and safety protocols aimed at managing Covid-19 outbreak on campuses. He added that institutions that record specific number of cases should be isolated; should be fumigated; should conduct mass testing on the students; while the affected students should be re-admitted after clearance, amidst heightened security.
The NUGS president lauded government’s efforts to evacuate students from foreign countries. He, however, expressed concerns about the current repatriation conditions that demand that individuals, including students, pay a minimum amount of GH₵7,000 as quarantine charges.
NUGS has, therefore, urged government to make use of the various hostels that are lying idle in the tertiary institutions for the quarantine purpose to avert the exorbitant cost that repatriated students will have to pay.
