The Ranking Member of the Education Committee of Parliament, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, has stated that government erred in dissolving the Governing Council of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
This follows a demonstration by students on Monday after some of their colleagues were allegedly brutalized by internal security personnel at the University’s premises.
The demonstration did not go as peacefully as planned as students ended up vandalizing school property, and this also led to the school being closed down.
Following this, the government in a statement issued by the Education Ministry on Thursday, October 25, dissolved the Governing Council of the KNUST and, in its stead, set up a seven-member Interim Council which will oversee the re-opening of the university within 14 days.
Harsh & unfair
According to Mr. Nortsu-Kotoe, who was speaking on 3FM’s Sunrise on Friday, October 26, government should have allowed the Council to use its internal mechanism to resolve the issue.
The Member of Parliament for Akatsi North said this measure taken by the government is harsh and unfair, and it shows that government is in support of the vandalism by students since the government has now included the Student Representative Council (SRC) President in the Interim Council and excluded the Vice Chancellor.
“In fairness, the VC and the SRC President must all be on the Interim Committee to work and resolve the issue, but you have formed a new Interim Management body and put the student leader, who is supposedly accused as the one who led the students to cause the destruction.
“The message you are sending is that you are glorifying the actions of the students which is not good for this country,” he noted.
In his opinion, the government should have given the Governing Council the opportunity to resolve this issue since both the students and the leaders are to blame for the situation at hand.
By Portia Gafah|3news.com| Ghana