THE HOPE FIRES BACK AT KNH HALL MASTER

THE HALL MASTER
KWAME NKRUMAH HALL
UCC

TONY HENRY ARTHUR
LAW STUDENT
UCC
0546170490

PETITION

Dear Sir,
We acknowledge the good measures you are putting in place to achieve sanity in Kwame Nkrumah Hall. I believe that a peaceful society is the one that adheres to the rule of law regardless of the circumstances or the situations and respects the rights of its citizens. That Notwithstanding, I hold the conviction that the fact that a thing is immoral does not mean it is illegal, and hence cognizance must be taken of the dichotomy between law and morality.

This petition has become necessary because of the manner in which some students were evicted from the hall and the hullabaloo surrounding it.
The main ground of this petition is premised on the assertion that “The law was made for man not man made for the law. The purpose of law is to regulate the affairs of a civilized society. Law is therefore necessarily an instrument of social ordering and advancement. It is a means to achieve a social order and control public power, assert private right and assign civic responsibility”.

The students’ Handbook, 2015 makes a provision at page 27, section (1) that “the membership of each hall shall consist of the students assigned to it who shall be known as junior members and the senior members of the university assigned to it”.
The (2) also states that “the governing body of the each Hall shall be the Hall Council which shall be responsible for, subject to the laws, statutes and regulations of the university, for all matters concerning the Hall.
This Hall Council we are told in section 3) that “it shall consist of the Hall master/Warden and six senior members being Tutors and six junior members, including the president, secretary, treasurer and three level 100 students”. So will it be justifiable for an accused student of the hall to appear before this body described above for interrogation and judgment?

Although the statute makes no provision for things that will constitute indiscipline and inconsistent with good order, it is a trite knowledge that the Halls have got their own codes of conduct that prescribe appropriate sanctions should a student act in contravention of any one of them. I believe this is so for reasons; to prevent instability and arbitrariness.
At page 30 (9) of the Students’ Handbook, 2015, however, it is provided that “within the general framework of these regulations and of the constitution and regulation of each hall the junior members of each hall shall be given full scope to manage their own affairs and participate fully as is consistent with good order and discipline in the governance and ruling of the hall”.

I believe these provisions are there to prevent what, in law, is called procedural impropriety. Therefore we are justified to ask such questions as:
Do the actions of the evictee constitute grounds for ejection
Are the actions of the students in contravention with any known written laws
Were the students given a fair hearing or made to appear before a body maybe the Council described in the students Handbook.

Were the procedures, if any, for ejection followed
In answering (a) and (b), which could be ‘yes’, one must bear in mind the written code of conducts, and I as i indicated it earlier these written laws are there to prevent instability so that members could plan their lives according to the law. Again, one must first of all know the act that led to the decision.
The acts, as I heard it, generally were drumming, singing (noise making/morale) and ‘occultism’.
The room is now created to ask if these alleged acts were against any written codes of conduct of the hall.
If yes, then the issue now is whether or not the students actually committed the acts and will this call for an opportunity of fair hearing and will it be on records that they are occult?

I believe the hall statutes are subordinate to the school’s which is in turn subordinate to the Ghana’s 1992 constitution. The fundamental human rights provisions in article 19 gives every citizen to be heard of any charges preferred against him or her – an act contrary to this can be described as a breach of natural justice, unless otherwise stated by law.
To level a charge of indiscipline behavior and occultism against students without any opportunity to be heard, examined, cross-examined and investigated before a council and a body maybe a serious matter and a gross transgression of the audi alteram partern rule.
Although no UCC law gives a procedure of dismissing or ejecting a student, when the rules of natural justice are not adhered to, it is prima facie justifiability that there has been a procedure impropriety.

Respectfully, this has been my legal argument and ground for the this petition, and the relief you inquire into the alleged act by giving the students involved the opportunity to clear themselves of the charges preferred against them and if possible accept them into the Hall or sanction them according to the law. This, I believe, is in accordance with the law.
Thank you

TONY HENRY ARTHUR
[LAW STUDENT]

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