Two people at a recent dinner hosted by the Student Representative Council (SRC) at a local restaurant ordered four main meals in the course of the evening all on the SRC tab. After a few mouthfuls of their first orders, the pair each ordered another meal.
Two people at a recent dinner hosted by the Student Representative Council (SRC) at a local restaurant ordered four main meals in the course of the evening all on the SRC tab. After a few mouthfuls of their first orders, the pair each ordered another meal.
They left the restaurant at the end of the evening with the first, unwanted meals as takeaways. One rejected his first meal of pasta, and chose to have a rump steak instead.
The other, SRC president Eric Ofei, also sent back his pasta asking for a different option instead. When Grocott’s Mail asked if the SRC spends money frivolously, SRC Treasurer Junior Bata answered: “We always try to be frugal.”
When questioned, Ofei claimed the food “tasted awful,” so they ordered another meal. He added that they wanted the uneaten meals as takeaways to give to the street children outside the restaurant, instead of it just going to waste.
When asked whether he also donated his takeaway dessert to the street children, he said that he had not. He was simply “too full” to eat it at the time.
He said he did not think his behaviour could be considered extravagant because the dessert was only a small slice of cake.
The SRC president said that he believed the issue was being raised by an SRC presidential candidate in the upcoming elections.
When asked if he thought it was an act of slander, he answered in the affirmative. Ofei said that he had “nothing to hide” and invited anyone to come and inspect the SRC budget.
SRC Vice President Internal, Garth Elzerman, who was also present at the restaurant, said that he had no recollection of whether multiple meals were ordered and that he did not tend to monitor what everyone ordered while out to dinner.
He later contacted Grocott’s Mail and said that extra meals had been ordered, and added that the pair had considered the original meals to be of poor quality.
Although there is not a specific entertainment budget, money is allocated at the beginning of the year to each councillor to be used for their respective portfolios, according to Elzerman.
For larger functions such as Orientation Week, a more rigorous budgeting and fundraising process is required. According to Bata, the SRC’s annual budget is made available to those who request it.
The Dean of Students oversees the budget to monitor SRC finances. There is also an external audit carried out each year.
