UCC loses court case against 22 rusticated students

A Cape Coast High Court has ruled against the University of Cape Coast (UCC) to rusticate 22 students of the university for their alleged roles in a disturbance that occurred in the school early this year.

The court also awarded a cost of GH¢ 220,000 against the university to be paid to the affected students.

The court’s decision follows a law suit brought against the university by the affected students, following the university’s decision to rusticate them.

It will be recalled in May, 2017, 22 students of UCC were rusticated by the school for alleged roles in a clash between students of the UCC and some students of the University of Ghana (UG) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) that resulted in the destruction of the university’s property and injury to some students.

The victims, most of whom were executive members of the Atlantic Hall of the university, were sanctioned by the university to stay at home for two to four semesters for their various roles in the violence that resulted in the destruction of the university’s property and injury to some students.

The violence

In March this year, 10 people were left injured as a result of a clash between students of the UCC and some students of the University of Ghana (UG) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

The riots were said to have begun when visiting students of the UG and the KNUST, as well as some students of the Atlantic Hall of the UCC, wanted to enter the Oguaa Hall.

The students of Oguaa Hall prevented them from entering the hall and, in the ensuing melee, the rampaging students vandalised some rooms in the hall, smashed the windscreens of the Oguaa Hall bus and those of some vehicles parked in the vicinity.

The 22 students were invited by the police for questioning and later granted bail.

But delivering a ruling on the matter today (Friday, December 8, 2017), the Presiding Judge, Kwesi Dapaah upheld the argument of the students’ lawyer who had argued that the executives were being made scapegoats as they were not directly linked to the crime, and also they were not given a fair hearing by the university.

The lawyer disclosed that the students were rusticated before being invited to meet the disciplinary committee of the university.

According to him, the images of the affected students, he argued, were also pasted on the university’s notice board before they were invited to appear before the disciplinary committee.

The university, according to the court, failed to adduce evidence to link the said students to the crime, thus their rustication of the 22 students is void and of no effect.