The Electoral Commission of the University of Ghana Students’ Representative Council (UGSRC) has announced the disqualification of a popular Ghanaian musician, Maradona Adjei Yeboah, popularly known as GURU as presidential aspirant and Lawrence Edinam Egleh as vice presidential aspirant from contesting in the upcoming 2024 UGSRC General Election.
The decision was made after a careful review of the candidates’ qualifications, which revealed that they did not meet the criteria outlined in Article 30(1)(a) of the UGSRC Constitution.
Specifically, the candidates were found not to be qualified to be Executive Officers of their respective halls of residence (JCR), a requirement for eligibility to hold an Executive Officer position in the UGSRC.
According to the UGSRC Constitution, a candidate must be qualified to contest elections under their hall’s Constitution and must be qualified to be an Executive Officer of their hall of residence (JCR).
“A student shall not be qualified for election to any executive office unless: He is qualified to contest elections under his hall’s Constitution, except that a provision requiring a student to be in at least his third year in this University shall not disqualify such a person from contesting for any office under this article,” an excerpt of the statement read.
Since Maradona Adjei Yeboah and Lawrence Edinam Egleh do not belong to any hall of residence (JCR), they are ineligible to contest for an Executive Officer position in the UGSRC.
Furthermore, Article 4(d)(ii) of the Constitutional Instrument (CI 24) governing the electoral process states that if one candidate on a ticket does not meet the requirements, the entire ticket is disqualified.
The Electoral Commission has released a list of certified and eligible candidates for the 2024 UGSRC General Election, following the disqualification of Maradona Adjei Yeboah and Lawrence Edinam Egleh.
Guru’s popularity generated public interest in the election. Although this is a challenging situation for him, as the story unfolds, The High Street Journal will provide regular updates as the election approaches.
