The Sports Section has held the 21st Inter-Hall Cross Country competition to hunt for quality talents for the upcoming Ghana Universities Sports Association (GUSA) games, which will take place at the University for Development Studies, Tamale.

The keenly contested competition, organised under the International Association of Athletics Federation's(IAAF) rules, saw athletes from the Kwame Nkrumah Hall (KNH), Atlantic Hall (ATL), Oguaa Hall, Adehye Hall, Valco Hall and Casely Hayford (Casford) Hall.

After the 10km distance marathon race, Oguaa Hall emerged winners with 54 points. KNH had 67 points to place second, whilst Valco Hall and Adehye Hall bagged 103 and 105 points to secure the third and fourth positions respectively in the women category.

In the men category, which saw a massive turnout, KNH Hall was declared winners with 47 points, whilst Valco had 66 points to place second. ATL Hall secured 123 points to get the third position, with Casford Hall and Oguaa Hall getting 129 and 168 points to place 4th and 5th positions respectively.

Sarah Owusu, from Oguaa Hall, was adjudged the best female athlete, whilst Malik Yakubu, a Casford Hall athlete, was crowned the best male athlete. Other Winners, including halls of residence of the various categories were given cash prizes.

Closing the ceremony held at the Casford field, the Dean of Students Affairs, Prof Koawo Edjah, commended the athletes for their good sportsmanship. He advised them to train very hard in order to defend their titles in the forthcoming GUSA Cross Country in Tamale in November 2016.

The Chairman of the Sports and Recreation Committee, Dr. Charles Domfeh, congratulated the athletes on their hard work and urged them to take their training seriously. He encouraged athletes who were not named in the squad that would represent the University in Tamale not to lose hope, indicating that they could be called at any time to replace their colleagues for any unforeseen circumstances.

Mr. Adu Gyamfi, a Convocation representative on the Sports and Recreation Committee; Mr. Daniel Okyere, and other high-level officials graced the occasion.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah has told lecturers that the image of the University would get enhanced or diminished through their actions or inactions.

The Vice-Chancellor noted that since the lecturers were at the forefront of academic work in the University, their actions should create good impression about UCC both locally and internationally.

Since assuming office on October 1, the Vice-Chancellor has been interacting with various groups on campus to present to share a gist of his vision for the University the next four years. In his maiden meeting with the teaching staff, Prof. Ghartey Ampiah called for their support to administer the University saying, “I believe all must be on board. All of us must work together to achieve the aims of this institution”.

On the quest to merit the worldwide acclaim accolade as a University, Prof. Ampiah said that could only be attained if more strenuous efforts were put into research activities. “My focus is to help all to increase our research capacity so when people are asking for two papers, we can give ten”.

He told the Lecturers that they would not be known unless their research works were well written and disseminated, “We will never be visible; in fact, we will become ‘invisible’ if we keep publishing in hard copy journals rather than digital. I am challenging you. All of us must be visible, so we have to enroll on Google scholar search engine and the others. I challenge you to be there, they have all the necessary tools to enhance your research work”.

To help improve research good research work and dissemination, the Vice-Chancellor assured an improved access to Internet connectivity. He said though the budget for internet connectivity was in excess of GH¢ 1.9 million, it was still not better and called for expeditious action to fix the problem.

Prof. Ampiah urged his colleague lecturers to demonstrate further commitment to quality teaching by introducing innovation through the use of Information Technology.

“You have to change the way you teach your students and courses. You have to sharpen your teaching skills to reflect modern trends”. He called for prudent use of money to ensure that more funds would be available to undertake research activities. “Let us conserve money here before we also look elsewhere for support to do our work”.

The Vice-Chancellor advised them to use the University’s time judiciously to achieve maximum effectiveness, efficiency and productivity. He called for peaceful co-existence between Lecturers and Administrators saying “let’s work harmoniously with administrators for we all working in the interest of our clients, that is our students. If there is mutual trust, we can do it”.

Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor has also held a joint meeting with Senior and Junior staff where he urged them respect their superiors to ensure order and discipline at their respective offices. He also asked leaders to be good examples for their subordinates to emulate.

Prof. Ampiah told them to eschew the practice where staff use office hours and items to engage in private businesses and rather stay and work for the maximum mandatory eight (8) hours per day. Again, he asked workers not to be prompted before they do what was expected of them rather they should take initiative to have broken down items and machines repaired. He assured them that his administration would avoid selective application of the rules governing the university. “We would be fair to all, no matter the status or personality there will be no discrimination what is good Senior Members is equally good for Junior staff”.

Ace broadcaster, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has called on law students of the University of Cape Coast to strive for integrity in all their endeavours.

He challenged them to identify their purpose in life and live a purpose beyond themselves. That, he said, would make them live a life of integrity.

Mr. Azure made the call when he addressed law students at the Celt Auditorium 900.

The lecture, organised by the Law Students' Association, was on the theme, “Serving a Meal on the Dining Table for the Lawyer and the Judge."  According to him, nobody can force integrity on them; however, he was quick to add that integrity comes with daunting challenges. He said:" Nobody can force integrity on you. Integrity is a decision you've to take. It comes with a lot of difficulties."

Mr. Azure noted that Ghana needs strong men and women with integrity to build strong institutions in the country. The ace broadcaster entreated them to remain focused and resolute in the face of insults and vilification in their pursuit of integrity. He urged them to uphold the integrity of the law profession so as to ensure a better judicial system.

Another Speaker, a former Ghana Journalist Association award winner in 2014, Mr. Seth Kwame Boateng, highlighted the deplorable conditions prisoners in Ghana were grappling with. Consequently, Mr. Boateng showed a documentary christened " Locked and Forgotten" to highlight the poor state of Ghana's prison. He said in the wake of the documentary the Chief Justice intensified the Justice for All Programme, which resulted in the release of appreciable number of remand prisoners.

Taking his turn to address the law students, an undercover Journalist, Mr. Anas Aremeyaw Anas, reminded the students that the legal system provided an honest, unimpeded and merited reward or punishment to all who would appear before them.

Mr. Anas, who is the 2015 Journalist of the year winner, called for innovative and daring approaches so as to make the society progress. He used the occasion to show some of his documentaries which included Ghana in the Eyes of God, The Spirit Child, amongst others.

The event attracted dignitaries from the Faculty of Law and other departments.