By Hajaratu Kalokoh
Students Union presidents from various colleges across Sierra Leone have given the government a 12-day ultimatum to allow for the conduct of elections to reconstitute the executive of the National Union of Sierra Leone Students (NUSS).
These students announced the ultimatum in a press conference on Monday at the SLAJ Headquarters in Freetown.
The decision comes amidst growing concerns within various campuses over the non-existence of a national students body in Sierra Leone. According to the students, they were told by government officials that NUSS couldn’t be constituted because they had to wait for the outcome of Fourah Bay College Students Union elections, which has not been held in the last four years.
The student representatives said there is no rule in the constitution that says without one institution, NUSS election cannot be conducted.
“After about 80% of successful conducts of student elections across the country, we now see the need for a constitutional national NUSS delegate conference within 12 days. Against this backdrop, we have come together as elected SU presidents nationwide and unanimously make our position on the call for NUSS delegate conference known to authorities concerned and the general public,” reads a joint statement issued by the student presidents.
A total of eight student union presidents from colleges like the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM), Freetown Teachers College, Njala University and Milton Margai College of Education and Technology, signed the statement.
Alpha Kabbah, President of the Students Union of the IPAM, further explained that when the Bio administration took office, they submitted a report on the status of NUSS to the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education and following that report the Ministry immediately ordered the closure of the NUSS office at Youyi Building and instructed college authorities to conduct students union elections in their respective campuses.
“This [report], we believe, was not only to revive students union government on campuses, but to also have the foundation for a legitimate NUSS government,’’ Kabba added.
The ministry has not responded to the calls yet.
NUS was formed to serve as a training ground for efficient leadership among students and for future leadership including a platform to coordinate students to promote and foster the national aspiration of Sierra Leonean students.
The FBC election has been postponed more than three times during the last academic year. In a collective statements, the students said they cannot keep waiting for one campus to get elections just to form NUSS, because the tenure of their respective campus governments could have elapsed.
“The student’s union bodies have a constitutional term limit. If we are to wait for FBC or any institution to have their elections, it is possible in the process of waiting the term of office of another SU government of a particular institution will elapse, which means we will have to wait for another institution whose term of office elapsed as well. If that is the case then this trend will replicate for all other institutions until the possibility of calling a NUSS delegate conference becomes merely impossible,” the statement reads.
President of Njala Campus Bo, Fasalie Jawara explained that for a decade they have not got an executive that actually represents the welfare of students so they want to change the narrative.
“We as Student Union Presidents, we have looked at the irregularities that have been happening for the past 10 -11years. We thought it necessary that we cannot continue with this and that we must choose a way forward so that we can build a foundation for other students that are coming after us,’’ he said.
Parts of the position paper signed by the campus presidents states that current campus presidents do not recognize any students claiming to be NUSS. They said the ‘impersonators’ should be arrested and dealt with accordingly.
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