KNUST reopens on Nov14
Finally, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is scheduled to reopen on Wednesday, November 14.
The school was shut down after students staged a violent protest against what they describe as oppression from the school authorities.
The school which was expected to be reopened on November 8, 2018, never materialized after a dispute on which people are to form the governing council.
An interim council established by the government to see to the resolution of issues at the university was rejected by the lecturers who felt disrespected over their non-inclusion on the new council.
The Asantehene, Oteumfuo Osei Tutu II – who is Chancellor of the university – has had to step in and the old council has been maintained.
This means all old members are intact, only a few new people have been added.
Background
On October 22, this year, there was an outbreak of violence and destruction of property following a demonstration of students of KNUST campus in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
Following that, the Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) took a decision to shut down the university and also imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the university campus.
The students, who went on a peaceful demonstration against the ‘tyrannical’ style of the university administration, turned violent, leading to the massive destruction of property worth about Ghc1.7million.
The demonstration was also intended to express grave concern over the use of force by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kwasi Obiri Danso, to cow them into submission.
Before the demonstration, 11 students of the University Hall (Katanga) who had participated in the usual entertainment programme (otherwise called moral session) of the hall on Friday, October 19 were allegedly brutalised and arrested by the university’s internal security men and handed over to the KNUST Police Station, where they were detained.
Moral sessions are processions of students, usually on campus, amid singing and dancing, and are very common with the all-male halls of residence.
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Radia Sambare
Radia Sambare, is an online journalist, covers special events and reports about Africa and geopolitics, passionate about telling stories related to social justice and environmental issues. She's born and raised in Accra, Ghana.