The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) was expected to reopen today November 8, 2018, after it was shut down following violent protest by students.
This plan, however, has been changed after the failure to reconstitute a Governing Council.
Chancellor of the university, Otumfuo Osei Tutu has made several attempts at resolving the impasse between government and labour unions which has stalled the whole process of reconstituting the council.
The government has said it does not want any old member of the governing council to be part of the new council but the labour unions are insisting they want their old representatives to be on the new council.
National President of UTAG Dr Eric Opoku Mensah in an interview with Starr FM said he is optimistic the Chancellor will reach an amicable solution to the issue.
Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah on Monday said the old council members cannot be part of the yet to be constituted.
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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