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| Paa Kwesi Adu |
Paa Kwesi Adu, newly elected President of the
National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has called for a drastic cut in
tertiary education fees.
According to the vibrant student’s leader, Ghana
cannot wage any meaningful fight against under development if students are
saddled with astronomical fees insisting that education is an inalienable right
of every citizen enshrined in the constitution of Ghana.
He insists that an educated people are the
greatest treasure bestowed on any nation and the surest guarantee to the
elimination of poverty.
He has called on the Government of Ghana to exploit
the country’s natural resources so as to improve access to education.
He explained that the essence of government in a
developing country must be to cushion the disadvantaged and poorer members of
the society.
The more than two thousand tertiary students
from within and outside of the country that thronged the Accra International
Conference Centre to witness the handing over ceremony of the past executives
to the new leadership have expressed absolute confidence in the leadership of
the newly elected President of the National Union of Ghana Students.
Past President of NUGS, Prosper Dizitse, said
Paa Kwesi Adu will forge a transparent and an accountable students union
dedicated towards the fight for the rights of all Ghanaians students.
Paa Kwesi Adu said political interference in the
activities of NUGS has divided and weakened the student’s front and has
promised to provide policies dedicated to championing the causes of all
Ghanaian students and the restoration of the fortunes of NUGS.
In a solidarity statement read on the behalf of
the Convener of the Socialist Forum of Ghana, the SFG said the global system
established by the imperialist powers after the Second World War to prevent
cutthroat capitalist competition threatening civilisation with another global
cataclysm, is in tatters.
It said “the world is moving towards the
precipice of economic chaos and generalised conflict” and cautioned that “as
has always been the case it is the People of the global South and in particular
the Youth, children and it’s women who will bear the brunt of the collapse of
the system”
The SFG also noted that “ … we (Ghana) is faced
with a real threat and the country and the World need new leadership and that
leadership must come from the organised Youth.”
According to the Socialist Forum, the first task
of the Student Movement is to rebuild its unity for the defense of Student rights
or to protect our people from the ravages of under development adding that to
build a just world order Ghana needs a NUGS that is the vehicle of all Students
– not just of University Students.
The statement also encourages the Student
Movement to rebuild its solidarity linkages with the wider social movement.
SFG’S MESSAGE TO NUGS
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| Kyeretwie Opoku, SFG Convener |
On the occasion of the handover of the past executives and
the swearing of the newly elected leadership the Socialist Forum of Ghana
extends its warmest solidarity to the National Union of Ghana Students and its
leadership.
We salute the outgoing Student
leadership for their fierce defence of the rights and aspirations of students
and for their consistent principled positions on national affairs and their
solidarity with the struggling peoples of the world. It has been a pleasure working with you over
the last year. We hope that you will
continue to exhibit this kind of leadership as you move out of the Student
Movement and into higher levels of struggle.
We welcome the incoming
leadership to a year of great challenge.
The global system established by the Imperialist powers after the Second
World War to prevent cutthroat capitalist competition threatening civilisation
with another global cataclysm, is in tatters.
Once again the world moves towards the precipice of economic chaos and
generalised conflict. As has always been the case it the People of the global
South and in particular the Youth, children and it’s women who will bear the
brunt of the collapse of the system. We
are faced with a real threat. The
country and the World need new leadership.
That leadership must come from the organised Youth.
To put yourselves in a
position to lead the Student Movement you must develop simultaneously in two
directions.
The first task of the Student
Movement is to rebuild its unity.
Whether for the defense of Student rights or to protect our people from
the ravages of under development or to build a just world order Ghana needs a NUGS
that is the vehicle of all Students – not just of University Students.
The second task of the Student
Movement is to rebuild its solidarity linkages with the wider social
movement. NUGS Motto, its statement used
to be “We fight alongside our people till final victory”. This was a clear
statement that acknowledged that while Students faced many challenges due to
the under developed state of our nation we remain a relatively privileged
section of society. It acknowledged
further that the only sustainable solution to the problems that young people
face – whether in work or in study is a transformation of our society that
makes its resource available for needs of our millions rather than just for the
benefit of foreign Capital and its local agents in the national establishment. It is a far cry from the current situation
where students are divided by and are simply the unthinking cynical tools of
the corrupt and empty partisan politics that dominates our society. It is time that NUGS and the Student Movement
more broadly reconsidered its fundamental commitments and the strategies
required to serve these.
SFG will continue to stand with the progressive Student
masses in their fight to rebuild the student movement for this fight.
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