UG Commonwealth Hall members protest over stalled accommodation project

Some members of the Commonwealth Hall of the University of Ghana on Thursday, January 14, 2021, embarked on a demonstration exercise to protest over the delay in constructing the Commonwealth hall annex hostel facility.

A sod-cutting ceremony was held in November 2019 for the construction of a 42 million dollar project to improve the University’s accommodation challenges.

According to the students, some senior members of the convocation are against the construction of the facility.

Former Chairman of the Accommodation Crisis Committee of the Commonwealth Hall, Bright Atsu Agbetsise in a Citi News interview said “All of a sudden there was a petition from Senior members of the convocation, including the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, raising issues about the project. So the project was stalled for a year.”

“We are gathered here today because we are tired of waiting. We have waited for a whole year, and there has been no headway with the project, no one is saying anything to us.”

Students of the University of Ghana recently hit the streets over an intended introduction of a new residential policy that will provide accommodation for first-year students only.

This policy is expected to replace the existing system which allows final year students to be accommodated at the university residence.

Schools had been closed since March 15, 2020, as part of the government’s measures to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus.

President Nana Akufo-Addo in a national address, however, announced the reopening of schools.

He said the academic year will commence for new and continuing university students in January 2021.