Engender satisfaction among student body - Ablakwa

Accra, Aug. 20, GNA - The Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, on Thursday charged student leaders to engender satisfaction among students by protecting their interest and development. He said the surest way to bring about fulfilment among the student body was by building trust and confidence in the leadership themselves.

Mr Ablakwa was speaking at a seminar for student leaders of the Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC) in Accra. The day's seminar, on the theme: "Effective Leadership - A Tool for Development," was to equip the student leaders to ensure efficient and effective delivery in their new roles. Mr Ablakwa said as student leaders, some of their decisions would not meet the popular will of the student body and therefore should ensure that their decisions and actions were borne out of vision, selflessness and clear conscience. He urged the student leaders to use effective communication tools to explain their actions to the rest of the student body and to let them understand what they are doing.

"But what is even more important is feedback.letting your people talk to you and you should have a listening ear in order to understand and appreciate what's bothering them, how particular decisions and actions have affected them and what they think about your leadership," he added. Mr Ablakwa said being former student leaders, they had regular interactions with students as well as those whose actions had an impact on the lives and activities of students. He said that helped to bring out the concerns of students, what actions to be taken and the position of the government and the university authorities at the time.

Dr Robert Awuah Baffuor, Vice President of GTUC said those who aspired to become leaders must first lead by example. He urged student leaders to roll up their sleeves and orient themselves with new ideas to be able to push forward pragmatic, fruitful and intellectual programmes that would help develop the school. "As in the past, student leadership roles should not simply mean opposing everything the University management would propose but rather forming a creative and constructive partnership with the administration for the benefit of students," he said.