The Sandwich Students Christian Fellowship (SSCF) has celebrated 20th Anniversary of its existence in the University on the theme “Celebrating 20 Years of God’s Faithfulness.”

The two day-celebration was marked with Musical Concert and a Thanksgiving Service. SSCF Choir, Minister Paolo, Minister Cephas Essien, Ramsome Liturgical Arts and other artistes performed at the Musical Concert and each of them thrilled the audience to soul inspiring worship songs as well as danceable tunes which kept them on their feet throughout the programme.

Giving the exhortation, the Chairman of the Chaplaincy Committee, Rev. Prof. Seth Asare –Danso, called on the students to acknowledge the Lord’s blessings upon their lives and how he has transformed SSCF over the years.  “God is a God of hope in the midst of difficulties,” he assured. He said God has been so faithful to the fellowship and they had every cause to celebrate the goodness of the Lord.

Quoting Lamentations 3:23 from the Holy Bible, Rev. Asare-Danso said God’s love for humanity has no measure and he will remember them in times of trouble.  He said no matter the challenges they were going through in their life and studies, they should be rest assured that the Lord had not forgotten about them. “Remember that despite the stress, quizzes, assignments, referrals and discomfort on campus, the Lord will help you sail through,” he encouraged them.

Rev. Asare-Danso later inaugurated a set of musical instruments and public  address system which the fellowship has purchased for church service.

Rev Emmanuel Abole, who is the founder of SSCF said he started the fellowship with the first batch of 38 sandwich students who were mainly Principals of Training Colleges in 1998.  He explained that, the Government at the time was upgrading the Colleges of Education into tertiary institutions and, therefore, Principals of the Colleges who had Diplomas had to attain a minimum of Bachelor’s Degree in order to qualify as heads.

Rev. Abole said the University later introduced more programmes during the Sandwich period and this increased the number of students in the subsequent years which eventually affected the number of members of the fellowship. He indicated that due to the increasing number of members of the fellowship, worship services had to be moved from the House Prayer to Old Library then Large Lecture theatre and finally ended at the Main Auditorium where they currently worship. He noted that the Chaplaincy Board was currently overseeing activities of the fellowship.

The fellowship also honoured Rev. Abole with a citation for his vision to form  SSCF and serving as its patron since its inception.

The Second Animal Care and Use in Research Education and Testing (ACURET) Workshop on Laboratory Animal Welfare in Developing Countries has been held at the Sasakawa Centre in the University.

The workshop which attracted participants from South Africa, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Ghana and the United States of America sought to bring to the fore the need to apply and enforce ethical regulations in the handling of animals used for research.

The theme for the workshop was: “Advancing Science: Assuring Responsible Use in Animal Based Experimentation in Developing Countries”.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said the level of institutional animal care in developing countries was limited. It was, therefore, appropriate for the workshop to come out with procedures that would make institutions function competently in the handling of animals for laboratory work.

Prof. Ghartey said the University through teaching and learning was ensuring responsible use of laboratory animals and for that matter staff and students were looking forward to build capacity and network through the workshop and for that reason was excited to be hosting the workshop.  The Vice-Chancellor mentioned that ethics was really important in research and institutions must respect that by being fair and observing the right practices required for using both animals and human beings for research.

“Many scientists fall foul to this by doing anything to animals as done in their homes. We should rather follow protocol in dealing with animals. In doing our research, UCC must pay attention to ethics, the VC, Provost, Deans, HoDs must write these protocols, we will insist on that, the lackadaisical attitudes towards ethics must cease”, he noted.

Delivering the keynote address, Prof. Felix Dapara Dakora, urged ACURET to do more for West Africa so that scientists and the people at large would show more love to these animals.  “You need to create more branches in ECOWAS and across Africa to educate and create more awareness on these issues”, he said.

Prof. Dakora said ethics was about moral and immoral living about right or wrong and urged participants to behave in more ethical manner as they carried out their research works. “As young scientists you need to know that, there are no short cuts to life, you need to sweat it out to succeed”, he advised.

Prof. Dakora said years ago, it was thought that animals were solely meant for food, so we could do anything to them, but things have changed and there was the need to have some amount for animal and apply same to them when they were brought to the laboratory.

The President of the African Academy of Sciences, said: “We have to recognize that the low level of research accounts for what we do to animals not only in the open, but in the laboratory as well”.

He said ethics committees existed in public universities in Africa to evaluate human participants in research and clinical trials but not for non-humans. He again, mentioned that there was no legislation and trained personnel to handle animal care in most African countries.

A delegation from the University of Cape Coast has visited Mrs. Matilda Amissah-Arthur and the family to commiserate with them on the death of the former Vice President, Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur at Ridge in Accra.

The delegation led by the Chancellor, Sir Dr. Sam Jonah was made up of the Chairman of the Governing Council, Mrs. Nancy Thompson, Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan, Provost, College of Humanities and Legal Studies, Prof. Dora Edu-Buandoh; Deputy Registrar in charge of Welfare, Mrs. Florence Opare and Ag. Director of Public Affairs, Major Kofi Baah-Bentum.

In her remarks, Mrs. Thompson described the former Vice President as a humble and hardworking statesman who had the development of the nation at heart. He said the loss of the former Vice President still remain a shocking news to Ghanaians.

Mrs. Thompson said the late Paa Amissah-Arthur would be remembered for the role he played in funding the construction of a Language Centre for the University when he was Governor of the Bank of Ghana. She noted that the University in 2016 honoured the former Vice President by naming the Language Centre after him. Mrs. Thompson assured the family that UCC would be present to support them during the final funeral rites of the former Vice President.

On behalf of the family, Nana Sam Brew-Butler, thanked the delegation for mourning with them and also honouring the former Vice President for his contributions to the University. He used the opportunity to inform the delegation about the final funeral arrangements.

According to Nana Brew-Butler, Mr. Amissah-Arthur would be laid in state on Thursday, 26th July 2018 from 8:00am to 6:00pm at the State House. This would be followed by a burial service at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) in Accra on Friday, 27th July 2018. A thanksgiving service will to be held on Sunday 29th July 2018.

The UCC delegation later signed the book of condolence opened in the family house. Former Vice President, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur died at the age of 67.

The 2018 International Summer School has been opened under the auspices of the Centre for Gender Research Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD) at Pempamsie hotel.

The summer school will examine the connection between land policies and politics of belonging and how these shape gender relations and influence women’s access to land.

It is also aimed at deepening the understanding and skills that incorporate feminist epistemology and methodology in research.

Participants at the 2018 International Summer School are PhD holders and post-Doctoral candidates from Ghana, Germany, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

The Director of CEGRAD, Dr. Genevieve Adukpo, said the purpose of the gathering was to foster collaboration and unity among participants. She said one major problem in Ghana was the shortage of land, so there was the need to find out how to make good use of the little available. “Our predecessors couldn’t make good use of the land, so it is about time we make good use of it”, she said.  

Opening the programme, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said it was his expectation that participants were going to enhance their control of skills that would provide access to theoretical, conception and technical tools that in turn, allow for contribution to knowledge. 

“Our assumption, of course is that, several skills acquired and tested, will be independently applied in the drive to move the frontiers of knowledge” he noted.

Prof. Ampiah described the thematic focus of the school as attractive indicating that “discourse on the land and land legislations are connected to politics of identity and belongings, because rights to land are closely linked to the membership and identification in a specific group”.   

Prof. Ampiah explained further, that this may be the family, the clan, ethnic group or nation state. The Vice-Chancellor said recent debates on belonging as well as national and ethnic identity stressed on the right of indigenes over new comers, the right of citizens over refugees and the right of farmers over pastoralist.

He noted that, these have led to innumerable conflicts, including civil wars, over land, eviction and displacement.

He indicated that land ownership and land right play pivotal role in the process of peace building, repatriation and reintegration of refugees and displaced people.