The Government has announced that it will not allow old representatives of the dissolved governing council to join the yet to be re-constituted governing council of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, (KNUST).
According to government, the old council is a party to the impasse that took place on the school’s campus.
Speaking at a press conference Monday, Minster for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the Government is also not interested in deciding with specific individuals that they nominate.
“So the specific persons who constituted that old council cannot therefore preside in our opinion over the matters in which their own decisions and conduct will be a subject. It is in this spirit that government and some other groups have already indicated new nominees,” he said.
The Minister added “it is important to ensure that a council that is put in place has the freedom of hand etcetera to superintend that exercise. The principle of specific persons who will end up becoming judges in their own course is what government disagrees with. It’s precisely to resolve this disagreement that the chancellor is taking leadership in engaging with the various nominated groups.”
“And we are looking forward that we can have a quick resolutions to this matter once all the parties cooperate with us and we have those new names,” he noted.
However, groups like the University Teachers Association of Ghana and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union, both KNUST Chapter, have insisted on nominating their old members unto the new council.
Background
On October 22, students of KNUST in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region went on rampage destroying school properties during a violent demonstration.
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.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Senanu Damilola Wemakor
