University Of Ghana Report On The Committee Of Enquiry Into The Disturbances Of 13th January, 1978: The University’s Regulations
August 3, 2026
Transcript
University of Ghana
March 23, 1978
SECTION 2- THE UNIVERSITY’S REGULATIONS AND THE LAW OF THE LAND
A. University Regulations in Respect of the Symposium on 12th January, 1978
Students are required to obtain permission for organising symposia only when the particular function is, under the regulations, a public function. The term “public function” has been defined as one “to which persons other than Senior and Junior Members of the University are invited or entitled to attend.” No non-University member was invited to attend the symposium. Furthermore, from the reaction of the students to the presence of an outsider in the person of Mr. Awuah, we have drawn the inference that in the view of the students non-University members were not entitled to attend the symposium.
B. The Law of the Land and University Regulations on Processions/Demonstrations
Section 8(i) of the Public Order Decree 1972 (N.R.C.D. 68) provides as follows: Any person who intends:-
(a) to hold or form any meeting or procession; or
(b) to celebrate any traditional custom in any public place; shall first apply to a superior police officer for permission to do so.
The Decree defines a “public place” as “a place to which at the material time, the public have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise.”
From this definition it seems to the Committee that University place” and that the Public Order campus is a ‘public processions/demonstrations Decree, 1972, is, strictly speaking, applicable to on the campus. However, the Police have never raised thề issue of the need for a Police permit before students the Committee hold processions on the campus, and has not come across any evidence of students obtaining permission before holding processions on the campus. Indeed the University has its own regulations, reproduced below, of demonstrations and processions:-
(i) Any student or students wishing to organise processions/ demonstrations in the University shall notify in writing a Committee consisting of: The Dean of Students (Convenor); The Registrar or his representative (Convenor in the absence of the Dean of Students); A Master/Warden of a Hall;
(ii) such notice should be given to the Dean of Students or in his absence the Registrar or the latter’s representative 24 hours before the pro- cession/demonstration is due to begin;
(iii) the notification shall state the purpose of the procession/demonstration and the name(s) of the organiser(s);
(iv) no procession/demonstration shall be held between the hours of 6.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m;
(v) the procession/demonstration will follow a route approved by the Committee and keep as close to the left side of the road as to facilitate free passage of vehicular traffic; it will do nothing to obstruct traffic;
(vi) during the procession/demonstration, nothing will be done or said that might occasion violence or cause a breach of the peace;
(vii) the organiser(s) of the procession/demonstration shall be held responsible for .any acts of violence and/or breach of University, Hall or other regulations that may occur during the procession/ demonstration; (viii) the Committee may prescribe any special conditions, limitations or restrictions as may be considered appropriate in the circumstances;
(ix) if in the Committee’s opinion, the procession/demonstration will be likely to lead to a breach of the peace or cause serious interference with the work of the University it may advise the Vice-Chancellor to forbid the pro- cession/demonstration;
(x) the fact that a procession/demonstration is not prohibited in no way implies that the University has either approved of or is in sympathy with its objectives.
These regulations make no provision for obtaining police permits before such demonstrations or processions are held on the campus. They carry the force of law on the campus, but being subsidiary legislation, they can be overridden by the general statute law of the land. Indeed, Section 23(d) of the Statutes of the University explicitly states that in making regulations the appropriate bodies of the University are to observe certain conditions, and one such limitation on the legislative powers of the University is expressed in the following terms:-
No regulation shall be repugnant to law or to the statutes of the University for the time being.
It could thus be argued that in spite of the University’s rules on demonstrations and processions, police permits are, in strict law, needed before demonstrations and processions are held on the campus. However, this is a view that the University Authorities have never known the Police to assert. Indeed, evidence given before the Committee by the Vice-Chancellor indicated the existence of a convention whereby the Police are not to intervene on the campus without prior consultation with the University Authorities, and we assume that included in this convention should be non-interference with campus demonstrations without prior consultation with the University Authorities. The Committee considers that the general understanding of the University Authorities and of students has been that police permits are not needed for campus demonstrations, and that as this understanding has been acquiesced in by the Police it would be improper for the Police, without being invited so to do by the University Authorities, to intervene in a campus demonstration or procession on the ground that it is an unauthorised demonstration. This understanding, according to which the general law on demonstrations is not strictly observed on the campus is, to our mind, due mainly to the special nature of the University and a willingness on the part of the Government not to interfere with events on the campus as long as they are not likely to involve a breach of the peace, and as long as the University Authorities are able to control the situation internally.
C. Non-Compliance with the University’s Regulations on Processions/Demonstrations
It is not in dispute that the students failed to comply with the University’s regulations for the holding of processions. They did not, as required, obtain permission with the result, for example, that the University was not given an opportunity to consider the route which they had planned to follow. The evidence suggests that the failure of the students to comply with the regulations was not through inadvertence.
