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NUGS/UTG students union in constitutional stalemateWednesday, March 12, 2008 The constitutional impasse engulfing the national union of Gambian students (NUGS) seems to have taking a shape for the worst as the ousted University of the Gambia Students’ Union (UTGSU) representative at NUGS, Mr Ebrima Sanneh, is showing no sign of backing out. On Monday Mr Sanneh walked into our office complex with a six page document purportedly from NUGS. The document, entitled "NUGS IPRO debunks UTGSU", accused the latter of political victimization against their president. It also dismissed as "misleading and rubbish" a report earlier published by the Daily Observer that the last congress of NUGS ended in disarray, despite the marching out of UTGSU delegates, the institution that holds the chairmanship. The document also quoted Mr Morr B. ceesay, president of GTTI Students’ union, who doubles as the IPRO of NUGS, as saying "we shall make our feelings known to UTGSU through a formal warning letter and a demand for apology". Mr Ceesay, according to the document, vowed that any charges against "our president, Mr Ebrima Sanneh, that is not substantiated and which is not channeled through the executive council of NUGS, shall be rejected and thrown out. According to the NUGS IPRO, the overwhelming belief by NUGS is that "our president is the victim of politically motivated witch-hunt and organized stunt and it shall be countered anywhere under the sun. By their action at the congress, they (UTGSU) have fully violated our constitution." The document further revealed that the executive council of NUGS, during their crisis meeting, came close to punishing UTGSU with a suspension or a hefty fine. It however warned that such attitude would not be tolerated. All effort to reach Mr Morr Ceesay for verification proofed futile. However, when contacted on the issue, the UTGSU president, Mr Ousman Badjie, said that he did not know under whose chairmanship that crisis meeting said to have been held by NUGS came up. He said: "as far as I know, we have not been approached about any meeting, and as the president and chairman of NUGS, I am supposed to call for meetings not anybody else. He referred to the decision of the UTGSU congress as binding, and something that concerns UTG students, not GTTI. We have all the right to decide who represents us, not anyone else. That is what prevails in all the other institutions." Mr Badjie further said that he had discussed the decision taken by their congress with the university authority, whom he said had expressed satisfaction about the step of integration by students. According to him, the Vice chancellor was appreciative of the fact that the integration process had actually started at the level of the students themselves. The UTGSU president dismissed treat by the said document as not worth responding to, because "the people who are said to have written this document do not know enough about the national union, therefore they do not have the moral authority to threaten an institution like UTGSU with punishment.” He however urged for restraint and maturity. And he concluded: "the issue is for UTGSU not anybody. It was this congress of ours that decided last year that we separate the two positions, those of us who were against it had no choice but to go by the decision. If the same people decide so, apparently after realizing the mistake they had done, who are you to refuse it?" Author: by Musa Ndow |
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