University Of Ghana Legon Elections 2016

Legon Elections 2016….. the Exclusive Recap!!


The streets of Legon Campus, University of Ghana, are relatively silent at this time of the year. One may almost assume that the past semester was a dull one. It is even easy to mistaken that these grounds of stress bare no fun. Well, think again! Barely a month ago, Legon campus was the place to be. Forget about national elections, the UG-SRC polls had all the factors and more (Suspense, propaganda, tensions and all the legal drama you could think of).
When students arrived for the Second Semester of the academic year (spanning February to May 2016), they already had fair idea of the players and proceedings regarding SRC Elections 2016.  Candidates vying for the Presidency, Secretary, and Treasurer posts had stormed lecture rooms, residential places and almost all platforms possible to get their messages across. The various teams especially for the presidency had begun to sound all too familiar (Team Shaki, Team Wissi, Team Esidom, Team Amsohua). Trees on campus and priced study theatres had been victims of various posters and campaign messages. Even social media was not spared as the candidates left no stone unturned in their quest for power. No secret was spared, no past preserved as the related pundits dug into the life coffers of the various candidates. Political Solidarity was also explored in relation to the TEIN and TESCON (NDC/NPP youth wings) fronts on campus.  This was highly anticipated following the controversies of the previous UG-SRC elections.
Students were entreated to the legal drama that arose out of the camp of Joseph Agyekum, (a disqualified candidate of the Presidential race) for some time. The official SRC Vetting of Candidates was side-tracked a few times due to his legal pursuits. Eventually though, the tensions from that camp died down and proceedings continued. The vetting for Presidency had interesting results with Esinam Afi Seade (the only lady in the race) leading in terms of satisfactory percentages. Meanwhile, the possibility of City Campus Students voting in the SRC elections stirred frictions on its own fronts. Bodies such as the University of Ghana Parliament house contemplated the repercussions of such possibilities.
The D-Day finally arrived on Thursday, 21st April 2016. Votes were cast across the electronic polling systems across campus.  Students were greeted with the following results by the close of the day.

PRESIDENT
Esinam – 1960  (29.46%)
Gilbert  –  125   (1.88%)
Amofa  –  2051  (30.83%)
Allen     –  1781  (26.77%)
Wissi     –  203    (3.05%)
Ken R    – 255     (3.83%)
Shadrach  – 278 (4.18%)

SECRETARY
Aboraa Sika – 3679  (55.94%)
Barbara Zen – 2898  (44.06 %)

TREASURER
FBI Prince – 3397 (52.89%)
Adu-Aquah – 3026 (47.11%)

Per the UG constitution, the two leading candidates (presidential) were ushered into a Run-Off Election since none of them failed to secure the absolute majority required for victory (more than half, 50% of the valid votes cast). This took place exactly a week later. The results from the 28th April Run-Off  saw Esinam Afi Seade emerging victorious over Emmanuel Adu Amofa. She gained about 3,665 votes of the total 6,871 votes cast representing 53.27% of the cumulative results. 
Miss Seade is officially the second lady to helm UG SRC Presidency since Carol Serwaa Donkor (2007). She expressed appreciation for support and further pledged to undertake an administration where students were truly the focus. In a colourful ceremony yesterday, the Handing Ceremony was officially done and thus, her mantle officially begins. Congratulations to all the winners of the elections once again. We do hope you live up to your promises. Keep coming back here for more fylla on the new Esinam administration of Legon. It’s still  ghcampusgist.blogspot.com
  
article by ; Piesie N. Safo