President of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Rashid Ibrahim, has called on President John Dramani Mahama to revoke at least one appointment on the Scholarship Authority Board to make room for a student representative.
According to him, this interim measure will ensure students are directly represented on the board while efforts are made to amend the Scholarship Authority Act to explicitly guarantee student participation.
Speaking on the Channel One Newsroom on Friday, January 9, Rashid Ibrahim explained that the President already has the legal authority under the Act to take such action.
He argued that claims by the Ministry of Education that students are represented through a civil society umbrella do not satisfy the need for clear and direct student representation.
“If you look at section 7 of the Act, the president has the power to revoke some appointments. The president also has the power under section 4 to make two appointments on the board. In the interim what we are proposing and if the President will consider, that at least one person must have their appointment revoked and a student rep instated on the board so that the rep will represent us while in the long run, we look at amending the Act to include in it a student rep,” he said.
Rashid Ibrahim maintained that laws such as the GETFund Act recognise NUGS as the legitimate voice of Ghanaian students and insisted that student representation on the Scholarship Authority Board must be clearly stated in law, not implied.
