Article: DROP THE ISRC ACT NOW; It’s Unconstitutional and Shameful

STUDENTS RIGHT MATTER; UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION

Malala Yousafzai once said “When the world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful”. Greetings to everyone who makes time to read my well structured thoughts on the current happenings in the SRC of our beloved institution. Student advocates have grown weary over the friction that goes on at the top there lamenting the fact that we at the bosom of the food chain suffers most. I’ve always been a fan of them person who coined the term “The Masses Matter!” Indeed the masses matter and the rights of the average student matters and should matter to those in power. They should reminisce that the average student placed them where they are and that true power belongs to the people. Recent developments have proved beyond reasonable doubt that our leaders have succumbed to pressure from above, or if that’s not the case then they don’t think about the masses. Personal interest have eroded their young beautiful minds.

Student leadership is the beginning of many promising careers, whatever we do now will definitely come back to haunt us in the near future. Those who think that they’re done with leadership after their current positions in the school should know that posterity will judge us all! I wouldn’t want to waste your precious time dwelling on the past but will propagate my thoughts. The SRC has been found again utilizing a non-existent power which then again has left a chunk of the students agitated with some even hauling insults. But there is an adage in the Akan language that “asɛm biara ni hɔ a, yɛde sekan na ɛka”

I will want to ask the SRC President why he has decided to disenfranchise final year students? Notwithstanding hitches of the virtual classroom, why has the President decided to become his own electoral Commissioner? Now he decides if we’re to vote or not? Forget that flimsy excuse that voting online isn’t safe. Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory. It is the right of every student to vote in electing the next crop of leaders the same way he was elected! So why has he taken a decision that affects the rights of every student? We’re intellectuals! We understand what has been done and we will speak against such an act!

We woke up to meet an Act which has been solely signed by the President of the SRC ushering in an Interim Committee to assume the powers of the SRC till proper elections are being held. First of all what has been done is berg illegal and unconstitutional! The President has no right to do that! Let’s educate ourselves. Power belongs to the people!

The ISR Act 2020 in its title refers to Article 22(1) and (2) of the SRC Constitution as authority for its creation.

The articles provide as follows:
22. (1) There shall be a President of the SRC who shall be the leader and chief spokesperson of the SRC in all matters coming under his jurisdiction and shall be the Commander- in -Chief of the University Cadet Corps.
(2)The President shall take precedence over all other persons under the SRC and in descending order, the Vice President, the Speaker of Parliamentary Council and the Judicial Council Chairman.

I do not find in any of these provisions, the power of the Parliament of the SRC or of the President to pass the said law. In paragraph 2 of the letter of the president which precedes the Act, the President indicated in line 4 thereabouts that he has signed an “Instrument”. However, the law is titled “AN INSTRUMENT ENTITLED THE INTERIM STUDENTS REPRESENTATIVE ACT 2020”.

Respectfully, there are 3 forms of Instruments:
- The Constitutional Instrument
- The Legislative Instrument
- The Executive Instrument

So I’m first of all wondering if the SRC has passed an Instrument or a bill (which transforms into an Act).

The Parliament of Ghana under Article 106(1) of the 1992 Constitution is given the power to pass bills. And as much as I know, it is Bills which require presidential assent to become law. Legislative Instruments (LIs) derive their authority from Acts and become law after being laid in Parliament for about 21 days, Executive Instruments (EIs) are made by the Executive and do not sit in Parliament, and then Constitutional Instruments (CIs) too derive their authority from the constitution.

Following the presidential assent given, I suppose the SRC purported to create a resolution and not an instrument. Why a resolution?
Article 44 of the SRC Constitution states clearly as follows:
44. (1) The power of Parliamentary Council to make resolutions shall be exercised by resolution bills passed by Parliament and assented to by the President.

Further, there is nowhere in the SRC Constitution which gives the parliament of the SRC the power to pass Bills (which become Acts) unlike the case of national parliament where it is clearly stated in Art 106. In essence, what is being circulated must be a resolution, not an Act nor an LI.

Then the next question is, assuming that all procedures for passing a resolution as stipulated in Article 44 of the SRC Constitution was duly complied with, can a resolution of parliament create new offices in the SRC? No! The most flexible law would’ve been the power of the SRC President to create ad hoc committees under Article 6(h)i, however, it still cannot be interpreted to mean that the president can create offices to be carried out as representatives of students at the university council.

The purported ISR committee is therefore alien to the SRC Constitution! The supremacy of the constitution under Art 2 of the SRC Constitution must be defended, and the said Act or Instrument must be an abrogation of the SRC Constitution and must therefore be resisted as clearly urged in Art 4 of the Constitution.

In fact, there’s no bar to the incumbent President being President until his handing over. School is currently not in session and I don’t see the feasibility in introducing the purported committee to the School’s authorities to act until school reopens because it’ll leave so many of us asking if the representation of students on the university council is by an appointment or by election as defined in Articles 12(1) and 22(5) of the SRC Constitution.

We all know how difficult it must’ve been for the administration to reach this decision as we appreciate the difficulty the COVID has created everywhere. However, if it must be done, it must be done rightly. The MASSES MATTER!

My name is Stephen Owusu, and I’m a proud member of CoHSS