President John Mahama has recounted how a twist of fate placed him in the University of Ghana’s Commonwealth Hall, a hall he had been taught to fear.
Speaking at UG’s 77th Annual New Year School and Conference, the President credited that development for forging the expressive leader he is today.
Addressing an audience that included the university’s Vice-Chancellor, faculty, and students, President Mahama painted a vivid picture of his timid arrival at the university gates as a former sixth-form student.
“I left secondary school sixth form as a young introvert, not very expressive, didn’t like to make too many friends,” he confessed. His hall placement, however, would become a defining accident.
He explained that National Service personnel teachers, mostly alumni of Legon, Mensah Sarbah, and Akuafo Halls, had strongly “demonized” Commonwealth Hall.
“They said it was a hall of rascals… and that if you choose Commonwealth Hall, you would become demonized,” Mahama narrated.
Taking this advice, he listed his hall preferences in his university forms in that order: Legon Hall first, Mensah Sarbah second, Akuafo Hall third, and Commonwealth Hall last.
“Apparently, that year,” the President revealed with a smile, “the University had taken a decision that anybody who chose Commonwealth Hall first would not be given Commonwealth Hall. And all those who chose Commonwealth Hall last would be sent to Commonwealth Hall.”
Thus, the shy young man found himself assigned to the vibrant and famously boisterous “Vandal City.”
“To believe I can stand before 100,000 people and say whatever I want is what Commonwealth Hall made me into,” President Mahama stated, highlighting his dramatic transformation. “It made me an extrovert. It made me expressive.”
He fondly recalled immersing himself in hall traditions, from “ponding people” and singing at the Bacchus shrine to participating in the pre-exam ‘Mfodwo’ demonstrations meant to “boost our courage.”
Mahama also shared memories of his first room, A36, which he shared with Boadu Ayeboafo of Graphic Corporation, and later, room J40 with friend Ntow Boahene after his postgraduate studies.
His remarks were infused with deep affection for his alma mater. “It always gives me a sense of nostalgia when I walk through the gates of the University of Ghana, an institution that has contributed greatly to molding me into what I’ve become,” he said.
President Mahama commended the current university administration, led by the Vice-Chancellor, for “all they are doing to continue to maintain the reputation of this great institution.”
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