KNUST Drama: Government eats Humble Pie
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THE GOVERNMENT has hastily backtracked on its high-handed plans to solving the violent impasse between students and administrative authorities of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), forcing critics to question the rationale of the Akufo-Addo-led administration.
The government had immediately ordered the dissolution of the Governing Council of the University comprising the University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Kwasi Obiri-Oanso and 14 other members. The decision drew the angst of University lecturers, administrators, civil society groups and student union bodies. This forced the government to quickly reverse that decision, asking the Chancellor of the university, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II to reconstitute a new Council.
But senior Political Science lecturer Professor Yaw Gyampo thinks the situation is “haphazardly” being handled by government.
“But seriously, what really is the Chancellor supposed to do in reconstituting another Council? Is he expected to take over the appointment of the four government representatives? He certainly cannot appoint the other institutional representatives,” Professor Gyampo noted.
The Chairman of the KNUST Council, in addition to three members, are appointed by the President of Ghana, out of a Governing Council of 15 Members. The remaining eleven (11) are all institutional representatives who are not directly appointed by the President and cannot be appointed by the Chancellor.
“So how on earth could any government have dis solved a Governing Council whose entire membership, it didn’t appoint? The Government’s appointees are ONLy FOUR out of the 15 Member Council,” the peeved Political Science lecturer asks.
“There is much confusion, fueled by the fact that those who are expected to be apostles of knowledge, do not actually know how Universities operate and they are unwilling to learn through proper consultations,” he wrote in response to the unfolding drama at KNUST.
Meanwhile, the government through the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) had asked the embattled Vice-Chancellor to “Step aside”.But less than 48 hours after the order,the VC was reinstated after intense protests from lecturers hit the government.
The government was accused of witch-hunting the VC because he was appointed by the previous government of the now opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Last week, Students of KNUST mounted a violent riot week to protest brutalization by school security officers and high-handed treatment from the school authority. The protest left many school properties damaged and several students seriously injured.
Source: Whatsup News
