Members of the Old Vandals Association, who are made up of past students of Commonwealth Hall – the only all-male hall of the University of Ghana, Legon, have honored the outgoing Hall Master for his contributions and impact in raising the profile of the hall.
The vice-president of the association James Boakye Sarfo who described Professor Frank Nyame as a hero said he has made a remarkable impact on the cultural ethos and has worked hard to put systems in place to make things function more efficiently at the hall.
Professor Nyame is a lecturer at the Department of Earth Science at the University of Ghana.
The executives presented a citation, picture frame and an undisclosed amount of cash to honor him for leaving an indelible mark at the hall making it one of the highly regarded halls in the school and playing the fatherly role in the lives of most students who passed through the Commonwealth Hall.
On his part, Professor Nyame expressed appreciation to the association for the honour.
“I think that it will be an understatement to say that I’m indeed humbled. This is the first time in my life that one has accepted something of this nature. Many people have tried and most of the time I try to dribble around. I’m indeed very humbled,” he said.
“For me, I always say growing up, there were many cases in our household and for my father and mother, they will rather give something they had to people who were not their biological children than to some of us. And they treated all of us just like their kids whether you came from wherever. So that has been part of me.”
Professor Nyame also charged members of the Old Vandals association to continue their charitable project in resolving challenges at the hall and also give back to society.
“Above all levels let us all be one. There are many situations where most of our people could not stand. Like your next project that you mentioned, we are not doing this for ourselves, but for posterity. Indeed, anybody who has heart will know that we indeed have a very serious problem with accommodation every year. It is our duty as vandals to bring some of these social problems and challenges to the fore and find meaningful solutions to them.”
About the Commonwealth Hall
The first batch of students was admitted into residence in Commonwealth Hall at the beginning of the 1956-1957 academic year.
In the Lent Term of that academic year, Ghana attained its independence from Great Britain, and the Hall, hitherto known as the Third Hall, was officially christened Commonwealth Hall to commemorate Ghana’s admission into the Commonwealth of Nations. The official opening of the Hall was performed in March, 1957.
It is, so far, the only all-male Hall of Residence in the University of Ghana . The motto of the Hall, Truth Stands, was taken from a quotation from Satyre by John Donne (1572-1631).
Andrew Sepah
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