Manifesto

MANIFESTO OF ISSAH RUHIYA FOR SRC ELECTION 2008
GIVING CHANGE A CHANCE

INTRODUCTION:
The time has come again when students of this noble institution, (Tamale Polytechnic) shall elect students to lead them in various positions. Having studied the trend of politics on campus, knowing that students are at most times taken for granted and knowing I have what it takes to make a change, I ISSAH RUHIYA, offer my self to be elected SRC President for the 2008-2009 academic year.

A leader can be thought of as a person with the capacity to define him/her self to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future. Whoever is providing leadership needs to be fresh and thoughtful and reflective as possible to make the best fight, this best defines me if you study issues and vote devoid of gender, tribalism, nepotism, religious affiliations, ethnicity, and many other things that influence our choices negatively in African politics. We need to move from that.

A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions to be implemented should one win an election. Electoral manifestos set out both strategic directions and outlines of prospective legislation should one win sufficient support in an election to serve in government.

These proposals, which are featured in the manifesto of an individual who has won an election, are often regarded as having superior legitimacy to other measures. They give electorates the opportunity to make informed choices. In Tamale Polytechnic, student voters have always been taken for granted by prospective leaders. One will not be wrong to say there are no manifestos in Tamale Polytechnic’s student elections for they are not made public well ahead of voting day to give students the opportunity to study and make informed decisions. This is the first change RUHIYA is introducing.

I, ISSAH RUHIYA, offering myself to be elected SRC President for the 2008-2009 academic year has titled my manifesto GIVING CHANGE A CHANCE. This means I bring change to the student leadership of Tamale Polytechnic and hope for the future and I start first by making my manifesto public well ahead of voting day so you can know what my leadership brings to the table.

I am sure you might think the change I’m talking about is Gender. You might not be wrong though for Tamale Polytechnic has since its inception never had a female SRC president. The change I’m talking about however, is far more than that and that is what this manifesto will be revealing to you. I am one who does not think women should be put in offices because they are women, but because they can perform (merit).

You may want to know why change. Change is the rule of life; those who live by the past and or the present are most certain to miss the future, I’m sure you will not want Tamale Polytechnic to miss the future. Also, the problems that face Tamale Polytechnic especially the student front today can only be solved by a change in leadership.

v A leadership that will change the way of doing things.
v A leadership that will focus much on the basic needs of students.
v A leadership that will involve others in finding solutions to problems.

VISION STATEMENT:
To see a well structured students leadership that charts its course in leading students play their role in realising the vision of the Polytechnic and ensuring that students enjoy the rights due them.

MISSION STATEMENT:
Provide a leadership that will shift the focus of the SRC to its basic responsibility of seeking the general welfare of the student body as stated in the students constitution, by ensuring that basic needs of students’ are provided either by Government, the Polytechnic authority, Corporate society or the SRC and also lead students to play their role in realising the vision of the Polytechnic.

MY POLICIES:
Taking the welfare of students and issues affecting us on campus into consideration, I have outlined the following attributes among others to address after I have been sworn into office as the SRC President for the 2008-2009 academic year.

CONSTITUTION:
The only thing that is constant in life is change, hence it affects every aspect of life and this includes constitutions, which is why every constitution makes provision for amendments. No institution can change if its constitution cannot be amended. We simply cannot adopt the way of living that was satisfactory over 12 years ago. The world has changed, and we must change with it. This is why your SRC President in the person of ISSAH RUHIYA will lead you to take a look at the constitution and make necessary amendments and add necessary acts that will best serve the interest of students. This is necessary if we understand that a constitution is a system of governance that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity. The students’ constitution should define fundamental principles and establish the structures, procedures, powers and duties of the SRC. It also should guarantee certain rights to students.

Article 3 Clause 1 of the students’ constitution empowers the SRC to seek the general welfare of the student body but fails to make provisions as to how this can be achieved. What we have in Tamale Polytechnic as a constitution is not a tool that empowers the SRC to defend the interests of students. Let me start my proposals with these questions.

v Who does the constitution say should approve the budget of the SRC?
v To whom is the audit report sent and what happens to it?
v Who handles issues relating to financial negativity, and what constitutes it?
v How is an executive impeached and by whom?

Our constitution does not answer these questions and those you might also have to ask. This is why students’ money is squandered year by year and nothing is done about it. I doubt if the SRC is indeed autonomous.

ISSAH RUHIYA as your SRC President, immediately after given power will form a committee with the responsibility of preparing proposed amendments to the constitution that has answers to the above questions and more. The committee will also have the responsibility to come up with bills that will best serve the interests of the students of this institution and define what it means to be autonomous. We need to have what I will call for now “The Assembly” with the power to take care of all the above questions and more. The Assembly shall constitute representatives from each class. SRC will no longer levy students without the approval of The Assembly. They shall have independence and also serve as the judicial council where students can go for the interpretation of the constitution and more.

What you always do before you make a decision is to consult. The best public policy is made when you are listening to people to be impacted. This is my belief. You shall be a part of this.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE:
What we all came here to achieve is academic excellence. Any other thing is secondary to this aim. I will do all it takes to ensure that all issues that affect the achievement of this aim negatively are adequately dealt with. I assure you that students under my administration will enjoy all rights due them

Let it be known that we all have responsibilities in ensuring that this institution gets to the stature that befits it. This is for the Polytechnic to become a centre of excellence. Living up to our responsibilities makes us excellent materials of a tertiary institution. Students have a responsibility to ensure that the SRC lives up to its expectations. We can obtain excellence not only through studies but participating actively in the affairs of SRC to ensure that they execute their duties efficiently and effectively. The SRC with ISSAH RUHIYA as the President will ensure that decisions of students and council are implemented and again ensure that management of the Polytechnic execute their responsibility by providing the academic needs of students.

STUDENTS’ FEES AND LOAN:
Most of us students come from economically poor backgrounds with others being their own caretakers. This therefore makes it very difficult for most students and their caretakers to raise a certain amount for fees in a short time. I will ensure that fee lists are released by the end of the second semester of each academic year to enable students and their care takers prepare before the beginning of the next academic year. It is also unfortunate that the trend for the students’ loan today is “pay your fees before you take your loan”. Your SRC President as me, will liaise with the Polytechnic authority to allow students pay their fees by instalments with the belief that it will ease the pressure students and caretakers experience at the beginning of every academic year and also allow those who may need to pay their fees with their loans do so.

STUDENTS’ ACCOMMODATION:
It is unfortunate that the first tertiary institution in the three northern regions accommodates just about 20% of its students, leaving the rest to the mercies of land lords. Even the few who are being accommodated by the school are not any comfortable. Rooms that are supposed to accommodate 4 people now has over 10 and those for 10 over 20 and to worsen the ventilation problems that is being caused by overcrowdings in the rooms are non-functional fans. It will be very embarrassing to send a visitor to any of the places of convenience on campus, especially that of the men’s hostel.

To minimize the accommodation problem, I will enquire from the authorities that be, to know why the completed GET Fund hostel which has all these facilities is not being used by students and ensure that students are allowed to use it. I will also with the help of my colleague executives bring pressure to bare, to ensure that the school authorities give all necessary assistance to the school electrician to fix on regular bases all electrical problems including maintenance and replacements of electrical facilities in the hostels.

WATER:

Water is one of the most essential needs for the survival of man, so they say it is life. To get this life that water gives, it must be clean. We in Tamale Polytechnic face a water problem that doesn’t seem to be leaving us and we must take some measures aimed at reducing it. We need to add some facilities to enable us store more water than we can at the moment. To achieve this, the SRC that I will be presiding over will rehabilitate the reservoir at the intermediate long block and also provide at least five (5) new Poly-tanks.

HEALTH AND SANITATION:
Litter is an eyesore in Tamale Polytechnic and the least said about the clinic, the better. I will with the help of the compound overseer, health secretary and environmental masters, step up health and sanitation on campus. The SRC will have to allocate annually a certain percentage of SRC dues to the clinic to support what the Polytechnic authority will give to raise its status. This will also be inserted in the constitution to make it mandatory for every administration to obey.

While we take measures to ensure that health care is given to students who fall sick, we also have to take measure at preventing it. My administration will do this by providing places of convenience at vantage places. We all know the states of what we have. That of the men hostel can best be described as a death trap. I will ensure a regular collection of waste to help reduce the risks of cholera, malaria and many other diseases that are caused by filth. Labourers employed to clean our lecture halls and the environment at most times do not, this also is a threat to the environment and do not speak well of a tertiary institution. They will do as they are supposed to during my tenure of office. To ensure adequate cleanliness of the campus, more litter bins will be provided at vantage points which will call for students to also contribute by dumping all litres in litre bins that have been provided.

NON-TERTIARY:
It is unfortunate to see our brothers and sisters at the non-tertiary loose the primary source of achieving their academic aim. Most of their lessons are not being taught. Like I said my primary responsibility will be to ensure that we all achieve what we are here to. These students say they don’t feel their issues are part of the responsibilities of the SRC but ISSAH RUHIYA can assure them that they will feel it when given the mandate to serve as the SRC President. I will do all it takes with the help of their executives to ensure that all their lessons are taught. Non-tertiary students are the major contributors to the SRC coffers yet they have nothing to show for it. When I become President of the SRC, I will introduce a non-tertiary week celebrations. I will ensure that non-tertiary students pay less for the digital centre since they do not use the portal.

To the DBS students specifically, I will be that leader who will work hand in hand with your executives to solve your problems. The time when you are left to carry your own cross will be gone. The two part-time representatives to the SRC that the students’ constitution provides for to represent your interest will be given all part-time programmes.

MEDIA:
A tertiary institution such as ours needs a good marketing to add value to its certificates and make it a centre of excellence. With my knowledge in journalism, I know that media is the best tool we can use to achieve this aim. Apart from the external media that can be used, we can also do better with our local Ridge FM and The Eye magazine. For these assets to live to this task, they need better management. I will bring my experience to bare with the help of other students who have in-depth knowledge in radio to introduce innovative programmes on Ridge FM that will tell the positive story of Tamale Polytechnic. This should put it in a better position to generate income for the SRC. Same will be done to The Eye magazine to make it the best seller of Tamale Polytechnic to the outside world. The Assembly which will be introduced will be tasked to pass acts that will give Ridge FM and The EYE independence and better management.

GREENING TAMALE POLYTECHNIC:
It is exciting to mention that Tamale Polytechnic has produced a good number of intellectuals who work both in Ghana and outside. The environment however, does not befit the stature of an institution that produces such people. It is high time the student body come out to green the environment by planting trees and flowers to beautify it. ISSAH RUHIYA as your president will liaise with the forestry department in Tamale to get seedlings for the exercise. I believe this will also ease the immense dust we inhale each day in the harmattan season which pose health hazards to us.

We are going to come out of this Polytechnic as important people. Therefore we must feel proud in telling people where we come from. As the Polytechnic produce important people, it must look important in itself. That is why I will lead you to green the environment and erect a magnificent billboard at a well built entrance of the Polytechnic to announce it to visitors.

WEEK CELEBRATIONS:
All work and no play they say makes Jack a dull boy. This is the reason for which week celebrations are organized to give students the opportunity to release stress after a long period of academic activities. This I think should not be the only reason as we often see in our week celebrations. We need to add some meanings to these celebrations, meanings that we can get from programmes that are educative to us as students of a tertiary institution. What we often witness are not even week long celebrations, in fact the longest we get is three days. To have week long celebrations with meanings that befit us, we need to introduce programmes like workshops, seminars etc and the funfairs to garnish the celebrations. One of these workshops in my time as President will be targeted at food vendors at the common market to give them training on good hygiene and better customer service. We can also have an inter-departmental sports festival within the week celebrations.

My administration will liaise with a social service Non-governmental organisation, to give an opportunity for the ‘Miss T’ Poly’ beauty queen to become an ambassador of one of their projects in her reign. This will add value to the crown, thereby encouraging participation in the contest. On Monday the 26th day of May this year, the SRC President of Takoradi Polytechnic was on GTV morning show with their beauty pageants to promote the Miss Takoradi Polytechnic programme, this and more will happen in my administration.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTAL AGENDA:
The constitution defines clearly the responsibility of the SRC (seeking the general welfare of students). This I will do by bringing back the pressure of the SRC which has been lost.
The digital centre is a good asset that is yet to be used to its maximum benefit. I do not want to believe we pay over GH¢30.00 each year just to browse. We should be able to register online, pay fees online, apply for residence online, and receive our results on line among others. With pressure, the SRC can ensure that the Digital centre is used to its maximum benefit. This, ISSAH RUHIYA with the help of my colleague executives and support of students will fight for. The facility should also be able to market the Polytechnic by providing relevant information to visitors of the portal.

A library is a place where people go to study and do research. Depending on the target group of a library, the times of opening and closure of the library must be convenient for majority if not all. Majority of the target group of the Polytechnic library are students, hence its opening and closure times should best serve this group. Lectures in Tamale Polytechnic begin at 7:30am and some times 6:00am and ends at 2pm. Students who wish to use the library at best will have to take some rest for at least two hours by which time the library is almost closed. The excuse I’m told is the lack of transportation for officers of the library to go home after closing late. The Polytechnic should be able to provide the library staff with transportation so that students can use the library at night and this I will ensure happens. The air-conditioning of the library needs to be improved and I will do my best at it.

Afternoon lectures especially, are the most uncomfortable moments of students and lecturers. This is so because most of the fans in our lecture halls do not function. This will be a thing of the past in my administration for I will constantly ensure that the Polytechnic electrician regularly work on all non functional fans and other electrical faults to ease this problem since students pay maintenance fees.

CONCLUSION:
In our quest to find a competent person to lead us, let us have in mind that we need more than a competent person. This is so because a competent person is a can do person, a can do person is not exactly a will do person. What we need is a will do person and I have shown that I am a will do person through my previous activities.

If you do not like change, you will like relevance even less. You have seen and read a manifesto that brings you change and I am certain you like change. If you do like change, then ISSAH RUHIYA is your obvious choice for the SRC Presidency. Be reminded that what we need is one who will bring a change that will whip up the interest of students in SRC activities and the only way to achieve this is to pursue policies that are positive. I can Prophesise to you that, elections under my Presidency will witness a massive voter turn out, this is because Rights Holders (electorates) will have a reason to vote and Duty Bearers (elected) would have the responsibility to act.

Great spirits have always found oppositions. For this reason, I welcome all criticisms and opinions that will be in the interest of Tamale Polytechnic when I become the SRC President and even now as I campaign.

I therefore urge all electorates to stand firm on the day of the election to ensure that ISSAH RUHIYA is elected to the office of the SRC President because she is the qualified duty bearer. I also call on everyone to ensure full compliance and participation to the electoral process.
Thanks for the gift of reading this message.

VOTE RUHIYA; GIVE CHANGE A CHANCE!!!

For more information, email to: http://us.f396.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=ruhidion@yahoo.com
Or call: 020-7694450, 024-2849555

MAKE YOUR CHOICE, FOR YOUR VOTE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE