Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has accused the authorities of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), of inciting the violence which occurred on its campus last Monday.
According to him strict, barbaric, and irrelevant rules forced the students to use violence as a means to express their displeasure on management principles.
KNUST students led by the SRC embarked on a supposed peaceful demonstration on Monday 22nd October 2018 against what they described as brutalities by the University authorities.
The peaceful demonstration, however, turned chaotic as some distressed demonstrators smashed louvres, billboards, windscreens of parked vehicles, as well as other University properties.
Eighteen students were arrested in connection with the impasse and are currently assisting the Police in their investigations.
Following the disturbances, The National Council for Tertiary Education has asked the embattled KNUST Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Obiri Danso, to step aside and hand over the administration of the University into the hands of as an interim governing council which was formed after the dissolution of KNUST’s governing council.
Speaking to Ekourba Gyasi on Atinka FM’s AM Drive, managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr stated that University students are adults who deserve to be treated as such.
According to Kwasi Pratt, these students are not in concentration camps and therefore should not be made to abide by stringent principles.
Authorities of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), in September converted all traditional halls of the school into mixed halls amidst opposed views from the student body. The halls include the all-female hall, Africa Hall.
This meant that, with effective 2018/19 academic year, all six traditional resident halls of the University will be converted into mixed halls.
KNUST also cautioned six students for harboring members of the opposite sex beyond 10 pm on September 7 and 8 respectively
Kwesi Pratt Jnr explained that these two instances as well as the brutalities, as complained by the students, led to the use of violence as the means to make their voices heard by the authorities.
Meanwhile, a Communications team member of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Otokunor Boamah, has accused the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) of politically masterminding the disturbances at KNUST to pave way for the dismissal of the Vice Chancellor, Professor Kwasi Obiri-Danso.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu Boatemaa
