Yvonne Osei Adobea Becomes First KNUST Female SRC President
One could argue that Yvonne Osei Adobea’s election as the Student Representative Council (SRC) President-Elect for the 2023–2024 academic year by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) electoral commission makes her the university’s first female SRC President, making this the ultimate comeback.
After losing the election last year, Yvonne decided to run again. She has since demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is qualified to lead the SRC of this esteemed University, which she has done.
After the polls closed at 4 p.m. and the Electoral Commission tallied the results, Level 300 Sociology student Yvonne Adobea received 8,282 votes, or 37.37% of the 222161 total validated votes cast.
With 22215 certified votes, Yvonne won a race that was not too close to call, and Nana Kwabena Osei was elected vice president. Other candidates for president who performed lower than Yvonne included Abraham Rockson Kwarteng, who received 4568 votes (20.61%), Fiifi Bediako, who received 3483 votes (15.72%), Alhassan Atta Shaibu, who received 2931 votes (13.23%), Ebenezer Korankye, who received 2472 votes (11.15%), and Kane Nana Francis, who received just 0.98% of the 219 votes.
Following the elections, there was a gender gap in the polls due to the 9243 total votes cast by women.
In student politics, Yvonne’s victory is significant since it makes her the first female president of KNUST. Last year, she was in second place to immediate past president Frank Owusu, who received a staggering 53.84% of the vote.
As the first female SRC Vice President after ten years, this represents a continuous history of gender equality in a male-dominated field.
The majority of the complaints of the student body are addressed in Yvonne’s manifesto, which calls for raising SRC Life Insurance benefits and establishing e-counseling in collaboration with UITS and the DOSA Counseling Directorate.
As her main goal, she also pledges to revive the JCRC. “We will fight for an immediate revocation of the dissolution of JCRCs and put up structures that will safeguard and preserve their purpose, roles, and place in our body politics and governance.” She stated.
Some unknown records set by Yvonne Osei Addobea at KNUST.
- She is the first female student of KNUST to aspire for SRC President at level 200 and ended second with over 2000 votes.
- She is the first female student of KNUST aspire for SRC President twice with a male student vicing her at anytime.
- She is the first female student of KNUST to win the KNUST Presidential position with over 8200 votes.
- She is the first female student of KNUST to become SRC President in 71 years.