Sister of NUS women’s officer loses delegate votes

Kingston University student ran for NUS delegate and hoped to follow her sisters footsteps, but did not receive enough votes.

The biochemistry student, Soniya Ghani, 24, was among 19 candidates who waited for the six chosen NUS delegates to be announced during Kingston University’s student union meeting on Thursday January 19.

Talking about her manifesto just days before the results, Ghani said: “I hope to tackle Prevent, a racist policy that the government have put into place. They say it is to catch people before they are radicalised and become terrorists, but at the end of the day it targets specifically Muslims and international students.”

According to Ghani, the Prevent strategy was first enforced in 2006, by the Labour government, and it has now been imposed in educational institutions, which is a big worry amongst students.

Ghani came in 7th place with just 13 votes away from Daisy Bow du Toit who came in 6th place. However, Ghani still wants to be more involved in the student movement in the future. She wants to be the voice and change for students.

The sister of the current NUS women’s officer Hareem Ghani, said: “Although I’m unlikely to run as full-time officer again, since I’m doing my masters next year in another university, I still hope to follow through with my manifesto in the future. It might be that I try to run again in another university or work closely in that sort of area.”

The final-year student first took an interest into running as NUS delegate after being inspired by her sister Hareem Ghani. Hareem was the first woman of colour to run for women’s officer and first to be elected in the UK.

Ghani hopes the newly elected delegates will prioritise student interests and make sure they familiarise themselves with the motions from their manifesto, so that students are fully informed on what they are voting for.