Open Letter to The University of Ghana Petitioning a Response to Recent Sexual Violence on Campus

The Vice Chancellor
University of Ghana
Legon, Accra
cc. The Dean of Students, UG, Legon
The President, NUGS
The President of the SRC, Legon
The President of John Mensah Sarbah Hall, Legon

Dear Sir/Madam,

We the undersigned write to petition the University of Ghana, Legon, to

• Speed up investigation into the sexual violence carried out by some residents of Sarbah Hall against a suspected campus thief, Amina

• Report on the findings to the public as soon as possible

• Announce appropriate punished for the responsible students.

• Institute measures that will prevent such incidence from happening on such a respected academic environment. We believe that unless the definitional and substantive aspects of the rape law and associated set of laws which deal with sexual harassment, molestation, unnatural offences, are clearly spelt out with appropriate potential punitive measures, any response given to this incident will remain historically a hollow gesture.

We believe that while the students smartly video-taped their crime, it should not take months for the University Authorities and the Law enforcement personnel to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

An online petition that was launched on the website talkafrique.com has so far generated nearly 500 signatures from concerned Ghanaians home and abroad and the list continues to grow. Much as some signatories have insisted on sending this petition to some of the national media here in the US to give a global perspective to the pervasiveness of sexual violence in our society, we believe that if the University authorities and the law enforcement can handle this locally, it will help to minimize the damage that will be done to the reputation of the University which has already suffered a huge blow.

We trust that your prompt response to this petition will convince us to end our reaction at this level and prevent further damage to Legon’s reputation.
Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned (representative signatories for the online petition for the sake of space. To request the complete list of signatories, please contact legon.sexual.violence@talkafrique.com
Kwabena Amponsah-Manager
Donna Akuamoah
Boateng Clement
Frank Adinkrah
Ernest Blynks
"johari","ashekoguza@yahoo.com",
Amene Manteaw
Sophia Manteaw
michael","mickeyangel102@gmail.com
Phillip Mbusi
Gugu Justice
DAVID ADAMS DZAKPASU
Nicholas Awortwi
Anthony Ekene Onyeahialam
Saheed Adeowo
Audrey Allotey
Madgella Adu-Boahen
Melissa Reid
"Dizkid","Ochidisamson@yahoo.com”
"Wendy","wendatti@yahoo.com","