The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who made the call, said considering the many distinguished alumni the hall had produced in the past 60 years, it must continue to pave the way for the younger ones and set a good example for the next generation of students.

“I say all this for a good reason. The sense of academic freedom in universities is sometimes mistaken for a licence to leave behind all courtesies and decorum instilled by guardians and the world out there.

“To many, university life is a great opportunity for uncontrolled deviation from social norms and the assumption of freedoms without associated responsibilities,” he said.

The Vice-President, who was speaking at the ceremony held at the Mensah Sarbah Hall at the University of Ghana last Friday, indicated that the hall was fortunate to have an august mentor in John Mensah Sarbah whose life and ideals should provide a blue print for the younger generation of students.

He wished every high school student should study John Mensah Sarbah because that history would, according to him, tell everyone what leadership and sacrifice was all about.

Activities

The year-long celebration, which was set in motion with a visit to the family of the house of John Mensah Sarbah in Cape Coast, is on the theme; “Redefining quality residential services, adaptive technology and raising partnership.”

Some of the activities lined up for the anniversary include public lectures, site visits, health walk and screening, games, dinner and awards night and Christian and Muslim thanksgiving.

While paying tribute to the late John Mensah Sarbah, Vice-President Bawumia said there was one guiding principle of Sarbah that had personally impacted his life and that of the government.

He pointed out that Sarbah’s commitment to the ideal of thinking ahead, which is the motto, when he founded Mfantsipim in 1876, should be relevant to all institutions of learning and governance.

“The motto was, ‘think and look ahead - Dwen hw3 kan’, a government and its people should always think ahead of their time and look into the future.

“This is a vision that has shaped my own personality, compelling us all to play our own part in building institutions that generate new thinking, new ideas, modernising political and economic governance,” the Vice-President stated.

He said that the vision of John Mensah Sarbah was what drove the agenda of the government for digitalisation and also raised the issues of how the country could modernise the residential systems to cope with the increasing demand for tertiary education and how digitalisation could be deployed to eliminate congestion, security breaches and unauthorised entry to university campuses and halls of residence.

Dr Bawumia, who was the special guest of honour, said to bring together the Sarbah Hall family, including the family of John Mensah Sarbah, fostered institutional cohesion and produced a synergy between the older and younger generations which should inevitably yield new visions, revitalise the university and propel it to move abreast of the times.

Indeed, he said, such gathering was also an opportunity to congratulate the university and Mensah Sarbah Hall for astutely clinging to a residential system which had been jilted over the years by student agitation, upheavals and cries for a dynamic transformation.

Dr Bawumia later unveiled a statue of John Mensah Sarbah and the anniversary logo as part of the ceremony.

Desecration

An Alumnus and a Career Diplomat, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, described as sacrilegious and a taboo, the desecration of the bust of a man with such high social standing as John Mensah Sarbah, and more importantly at the University of Ghana.

He said many were sad when some elements on campus chose that path, saying “We have gathered here to restore the dignity of a national icon and to reassess the outstanding contribution of John Mensah Sarbah in the foundation of education in this country.”

Fund raising

For his part, the Master in charge of John Mensah Sarbah Hall- Dr Roger Ayimbila Atinga, said the objective of the anniversary was to raise funds and implement seven key projects which he mentioned to include renovation of washrooms, modernisation of reading rooms, expansion of internet coverage, installation of CCTV cameras to minimise crimes and to convert the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) centre into a digital incubation hub as well as a mentorship garden.