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Opinions of Saturday, 18 November 2017

Columnist: Robert Bosco Owusu

UCC students, beware of a ‘FINANCIAL SUICIDE’ about to be imposed by the SRC

The Students' Representative Council has decided to bill each student GH The Students' Representative Council has decided to bill each student GH

Good evening fellow students of our dear University of Choice, I am of the greatest hope that we are all doing great by God's grace.

Fellow students, as I stated in my earlier write-ups, I, Robert Bosco Owusu, will always comment on any dubious and malicious attempts by the SRC to impose any nuisance charges on students of our great university without any fear or favour.

Let me also use this opportunity to inform the SRC executives, most especially the SRC President, that Bosco takes no delight nor agony in your activities and therefore will praise you when you do well and criticize you constructively when you go wayward. Because the SRC is not your sole proprietorship business that you can choose to run anyhow you wish, but it's a joint stock venture that every student is a stakeholder.

The SRC President on 15th November 2017, told the entire students populace at the General Assembly (G.A) of the SRC that, the cost of the new metro mass buses we are seeing on campus is colossally costing GH¢6,142 per day, GH¢30,710 per week, GH¢122,840 month and GH¢614,200 per semester and for that matter each and every student will be billed GH¢110 to cater for that non-value for money expenditure of the SRC. The student population of the university is estimated a little above 28,000. So mathematically, GH¢110 x 28,000 students equals GH¢3,080,000 (30.08 billion old currency).

Let me state without any panic nor equivocations that, the strategy by the SRC to milk each student of GH¢ 110 is dubious, malicious and an attempt to illegally loot students. This imposed busing policy is not done by any other university in Ghana and no wonder all students present at the meeting frowned their faces to register their displeasure when the SRC President made mention of such statement of "financial suicide" on them.

The SRC is already charging every student an amount of GH¢ 15 for busing (see bus levy in the attached document of school fees breakdown for confirmation) of which the impact is not felt by students, so where from these imposed additional busing charges.

My advice to the SRC president is that, since the policy is not yet implemented (In piloting stage), he should consider reversing this nuisance charges to free students from the financial trauma.

I hope my suggestion will be given the needed attention because some students pay their own school fees, some have issues of single parenting and others depend on relatives.

Finally, let me put on record that, I, Robert Bosco Owusu, am not the students' representative of the transport board of the University and for that matter, I have not endorsed this policy of the SRC as the SRC President is going about telling people and creating false news about me.

I know that as usual the SRC President and his militants will come out and attack Bosco for speaking the truth once again but as I said earlier, Bosco is not moved by those insults and false comments about him, instead, my interest is in the welfare of students.

The fact that we are good friends doesn't mean that I will keep mute when things are ill-structured.

Long-time Mr President, I think we have to meet and take coffee tomorrow at the coffee cafe, LOL.