A Portal to Nowhere (Part 2): The SRC’s Free WordPress Website Becomes Its Latest Digital Dead End
For years, students like Ama navigated a system where accessing information from the SRC required effort rather than ease, relying on WhatsApp messages, phone calls, and office visits in the absence of a central platform. Yet, documents reviewed by The Unheard show that successive SRC administrations continued to invest student funds in digital solutions meant to fix this very problem.
When the 2024/2025 administration took office, the latest attempt emerged: a website built on a free WordPress platform. For a time, it worked. Students could access announcements and notices online without constantly chasing officials.
But the pattern held. As soon as that leadership left office, the site went quiet, updates stopped, and the digital portal disappeared once again.
In this part of the investigation, we trace what became of these efforts, from paid website projects that failed to endure to a free WordPress workaround, and examine how decisions, external agencies, and gaps in continuity kept the SRC’s digital ambition from lasting.
The Twice-Hired Agency and What It Delivered
In 2021, under the Edem Vine-Led administration, Conellex Digital Agency was procured to develop the SRC website at a cost of GHS5,100.
The site was live for only a short period before it disappeared. In 2024, the Fati Ali-led administration re-engaged the same agency, committing GHS2,000 to renew the platform.
When this reporter contacted the then financial secretary, Mercy Adomaa, She explained that the plan was to renew the website originally developed in 2021, working with the same agency engaged by their predecessors.
She noted that the amount covered a one-year subscription for the platform. However, challenges in obtaining information from the various clubs and societies prevented the website from going live.
She described the one year purchase as routine, indicating that the platforms were often procured on a yearly basis, with each administration left to decide whether to renew them or not.
When asked for the contract details for the project for which GHS2,000 of students’ money had been committed, she declined and referred this reporter to the SRC’s General Assembly, stating that she had already handed over.
Unheard reached out to Conellex Digital Agency to understand their engagements with the SRC, including the 2021 website and the 2024 renewal.
The agency was asked to comment on the scope of work, the websites’ functionality, and any challenges they encountered, as well as to provide records or evidence of development.
The agency responded that, as a private organization, it is bound by professional confidentiality and Ghana’s Data Protection Act, and therefore could not disclose contractual terms, financial details, or project documents without formal authorization from its contractor - the SRC.
It confirmed, however, that it was engaged by the SRC during the periods in question, with
the scope of work defined by instructions from the respective administrations.
By the time the 2024/2025 administration took office, the idea of a lasting SRC website had already passed through multiple hands. Faced with delays, the then General Secretary, Nafisa Ibrahim, after consulting the same agency, took matters into her own hands and created a website on a free platform unimacijsrcpress.wordpress.com to help students like Ama access information directly. It worked, for a while. But like the iterations before it, the platform did not extend beyond the administration that introduced it.
How Other SRCs like the KNUST SRC Are Building What Could Last
At KNUST, the SRC digital platform (src.knust.edu.gh) has been structured to ensure continuity and accessibility beyond a single administration. The website is managed by the University’s Information Technology Services (UITS), which oversees the site’s creation, maintenance, and technical support, including generating login credentials for each new administration.
The platform, since its creation, hosts archives of notices, announcements, and leadership information, providing students with a reliable source of information.
“The UITS worked on the website. We contact them whenever there’s an issue. They also manage student virtual sessions and create new login credentials for every new administration,” said Boampong Dennis, the SRC’s Editor-in-Chief for the 2024/2025 administration.
He added that the SRC does not pay UITS directly for these services, as the university covers IT operations, with oversight coordinated through the office of the General Secretary.
SRC Leadership Responses on Digital Projects
Efforts to obtain responses from past SRC leaders yielded limited results.
Joseph Agbezuke, SRC President in 2019, declined to comment, stating that he had made a personal decision to distance himself from SRC affairs.
Edem Vine, who led the 2022 administration, did not respond to our inquiries, while an executive from the administration that followed reported there had been no formal handover of website logins or project documents.
Attempts to reach the SRC President for 2021 were unsuccessful. Whereas attempts to reach Emmanuel Kumah (2018/2019 SRC President) were unsuccessful, the financial secretary under his administration, Redeemer Buasti, directed us back to the SRC, stating that any records or handing-over notes would be held by the institution.
Looking back, Ama’s experience reflects a digital promise that never fully materialised. Despite repeated attempts by successive administrations, efforts to build a central, accessible SRC platform either faltered, proved short-lived, or left little in the way of documentation.
Unheard made further requests for official records and handing-over notes for the years in
question through a Right to Information request. The response raises alarming questions
about how these projects were documented, issues we will explore in Part III of this investigation.
The Investigative Series