The University of Ghana (UG) has requested that the judge overseeing the substantive dispute between the university and some Commonwealth Hall students be removed.
The University contends that Justice Francis Obiri’s connection to Commonwealth Hall indicates he is biased against the university.
The University’s demands were included in a Petition for Certiorari submitted on March 31, 2023, by the University of Ghana’s counsel, Kwabena Adu-Kusi.
He explained that “the learned trial judge’s relationship with Vandals of Commonwealth Hall of the University of Ghana and his conduct of the case so far suggests bias or a real likelihood of bias.”
According to the motion, Justice Obiri “was officially attached to Akuafo Hall as a resident during his undergraduate studies. This notwithstanding, he stayed in Commonwealth Hall throughout his undergraduate studies and was actively involved in vandalism and its ideologies.”
This comes after an Accra High Court issued an interlocutory injunction against the University of Ghana’s (UG) residence policy decision.
This came after some disgruntled UG Commonwealth Hall students filed a lawsuit against the institution on Friday, January 6, 2023, for directing living students to seek lodging outside of campus.
In support of the affidavit, the Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Gordon Awandare, stated that the judge “was officially attached to Akuafo Hall but was at all material times during his studentship in the University of Ghana, resident at Commonwealth and by definition a Vandal.”
