The University of Ghana has said the allocation of fresh men to the Commonwealth Hall ceased as soon as it received the notice of injunction from the court.

This follows comments by the Old Vandals Association on the floor of Parliament that the university was refusing to enforce the order from the Commercial Division of the High Court in Accra, preventing it from going ahead with the implementation of its new residential policy and to maintain its residential status for continuing students until the final determination of a case before the court.

 “The status quo of the residential status of all continuing students of Commonwealth Hall, University of Ghana should be maintained as it used to be before the 26th October 2022 decision was taken,” the order from the High Court stated.

“This Order is to last until the final determination of the case. I order accordingly,” it added.

Members of the Old Vandals Association in Parliament had called on the University of Ghana to abide by the laws of the country and reinstate continuing students into the hall.

On Wednesday, 29 April 2023, the Ranking Member of the Education Committee of Parliament, Dr Clement Apaak said: “Our statement is a call on the University of Ghana to respect and abide by the law and reinstate continuing students of our legendary hall also known as Vandal city.” 

Dr Apaak noted the university’s refusal to enforce the order from the court.  

“To date this order has been flagrantly disregarded as though same was not granted and ordered. Since the granting of this order, the management of the University of Ghana has refused to act in accordance with the dictates of the order,” he noted.

He revealed that the university has rather put in place measures to frustrate the efforts of the students from drawing attention to their refusal to enforce the decision of the court.

He stated: “The Police and other allied security personnel have been employed by the management of Ghana to frustrate the efforts being made by the students to call attention to the management of the University by the court to reinstate them.

“As an institution of higher learning and especially as Ghana’s foremost university one would not expect less from the University of Ghana when it comes to the discipline where the law so recommends.”

They Old Vandals Association in Parliament described the refusal of the university to enforce the order as “unacceptable.”

“The continuous refusal of the management of the University of Ghana to reinstate the affected students as ordered by the court is unacceptable, unlawful and must not be countenanced,” Dr Apaak stressed

Responding to the comments, the university said it had sighted some irregularities in the statement by the Old Vandals Association in Parliament, which “sought to create the impression that the university is flouting a court order and, therefore, disrespecting the Judiciary, the Constitution, and the mandate of the good people of Ghana.

In order to “set the records straight,” the university, therefore, sought to provide the facts in a statement issued on Thursday, 30 March 2023.

According to the university following the order from the High Court, asking the university to halt implementation of the new policy, it “stopped further assignments to Commonwealth Hall.

“By that time, new students assigned were already in residence. Contrary to the allegations and impression created on the floor of Parliament, the University has not violated any court order.”

It further noted that as a university, it had “exercised its legal rights by appealing against the court order as well as requesting for a Stay of Execution of the Order of Injunction.”

It stressed that the “implementation of the new residential policy had been done before the court issued the order of injunction,” as the reporting date for fresh men and women was January 4 which “preceded receipt of the order of injunction.”

The university added that: “The allocation of rooms to freshers assigned to Commonwealth Hall ceased immediately notice of the injunction was received, and has not been resumed.”