Campus politics at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi is no child’s play as aspirants explore every possible method to win elections. The rumours and allegations involved are basically not soo different from the national politics. However, one particular rumour about a non-student who managed to win the KNUST Local NUGS presidential elections for the 2013/2014 Academic Year seem to be of more interest to students.
It was alleged on various Facebook pages and groups especially on the popular KNUST RUMUORS CRIB that Julian Mawusi Cobbinah a.k.a. Askorbik who had contested the 2013/2014 Local NUGS elections was not a student and that he was dismissed in Level 100 (2011/2012).
This issue led the myJCR KNUST Team to launch an investigation into the whole saga. Due to the sensitive nature of the whole issue and our findings, we have decided to publish our findings in parts. For this particular publication, we will focus on the KNUST Local NUGS elections.
Now, on the day (Saturday) of the elections for the KNUST Local NUGS positions (President, Secretary, and Treasurer) by the SRC Parliamentary Council of KNUST, a group of students brought a petition against the candidature of one of the Presidential Aspirants, Julian Mawusi Cobbinah a.k.a. Askorbik, about the fact that he was not a student and thus was not eligible to contest the elections. They supported their petition with a letter signed by the Head of Department of Materials Engineering indicating that the aspirant had been dismissed from the University during the 2011/2012 Academic Year.
The petition wasn’t upheld because the necessary procedure was not followed and secondly there was no way of verifying the authenticity of the letter since it was a weekend thus the petitioners were advised by the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Kofi Kyei Richard to channel their petition through their members who were members of parliament. This was to enable such members of parliament to raise a motion during proceedings so it can be dealt with but unfortunately, nobody raised such motion thus proceedings went on for the day as scheduled.
Voting went on successfully and Askorbik was provisionally declared the winner with 13 votes at the end of polls. The 1st runner up, Paul Adanu Worlanyo, had 12 votes. The 2nd runner up had only 1 vote.
During the sitting of the Parliamentary Council on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. A member of parliament raised a motion to challenge the candidature of the provisional winner of the NUGS Presidency based on a letter issued to the SRC President, Mr. Fugah Caleb. The letter which was dated May 21, 2013 and signed by the Dean of Students clearly stated that Julian Mawusi Cobbinah had been dismissed from the University based on poor academic performance.
After deliberations by members of parliament, they voted on the motion to declare the first runner-up, Paul as the winner of the elections. Majority accepted the motion thus it was upheld. They also voted and accepted Paul Adanu Worlanyo as the KNUST Local NUGS President. Until Julian’s studentship is proven otherwise, Paul has been finally declared the 2013/2014 KNUST Local NUGS President.
When myJCR News asked the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Kofi Kyei Richard, in an interview about the reason why the Parliamentary Council didn’t organize a re-election instead of re-voting. The Speaker explained that, “the issues raised were concerning the candidature/studentship of one of the aspirants and not the organisation of the election itself. Re-election would have involved re-opening of nominations and the other procedures would have followed. This particular issue demanded re-voting based on motions raised on the floor of parliament. Thus members voted, and the motion to declare the 1st runner-up as winner wasthe one that won.”
Probably, the most mysterious aspect of this whole saga is the fact that Julian Cobbinah was part of a debating team that represented the University in South Africa after his dismissal but before the NUGS elections. So how did Julian obtain clearance from the University to travel with the team?
Did Julian take part in end of semester examinations during the 2012/2013 Academic Year?
What about the semester biometric registrations, what might have gone wrong?
Is it possible that a student could have reached Level 400 without knowing that he/she was sacked by the University way back in Level 100?
myJCR has reliably confirmed that Julian Cobbinah claims he wasn’t aware he had been dismissed prior to the 2013/2014 Academic Year. So what went wrong at the KNUST Administration that led to this saga?
For several days, Julian Cobbinah has refused to pick myJCR News calls in our bid to give him the chance to clear some of the accusations and rumours against him.
It must be noted that the Vice Chancellor and Pro-Vice Chancellor held a meeting with the former GRASAG President, Former and Current SRC Presidents, Julian Cobbinah but the Fugah Caleb is asking for more. He is requesting the University to setup an investigative board of inquiry with SRC representation to investigate the matter. This is an action he is taking in the interest of students to ascertain the facts. If Julian was truly not aware of his studentship, then any other student could have been a victim.
When a student is dismissed, does the University officially write to the student?
Before we close this chapter on Askorbik 101, myJCR News asked the SRC President to explain to students the reason why the KNUST SRC elections was held after all other (Colleges, Halls, etc.) elections in the University for the first time in the history of KNUST.
This is what he had to say… “Yes, it is true that the usual format had been SRC Elections first, then the rest follow but the change needed to be done because aspirants who don’t succeed in the SRC elections end up contesting at the College or Hall elections. What happens next is that, if they are successful, they end up as members of the highest decision taken body of the SRC, that is the Parliamentary Council and they tend to ‘fight back’ at their opponent (the winner of the SRC Presidency). He continued that “these things end up sabotaging the works of the SRC thus the earlier administration thought it wise to reverse the order. That is why the SRC elections was held after all other elections.”
This is the end of the first chapter of myJCR News’ revealation on Askorbik 101. I trust most of the rumours have been put to rest but obviously not the serious questions raised. Rely on myJCR News to feed you with more information as we seek answers to the serious questions.
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