Govt would not bow to blackmail - Owusu-Agyemang

Kumasi, Dec 7, GNA - Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Minister of the Interior, on Saturday said the Government would not bow to blackmail inherent in threats of ultimatums.

This is because, he said, the Government was focused and mindful of its responsibilities.

Speaking at the 54th Speech and Prize-Giving day of Prempeh College in Kumasi, Mr Owusu-Agyemang said it was most unfortunate and unacceptable for a particular batch of students for whatever reason and at any point, to throw decency and decorum to the wind and to engage in acts of vandalism and violence.

"This I must emphasise, is unacceptable and will henceforth be met with the application of the laws of the land to the full. Those who deliberately and consciously deprive those after them and society of what they need to develop and progress should be prepared to face the wrath of that society."

The Interior Minister said students, whether at the secondary or tertiary level, needed to appreciate the fact that all human situations had their inconveniences and that there were always the danger of just feeling those of the present without seeing or feeling those of the future.

Mr Owusu-Agyemang, therefore, advised students that before they embarked on any action to ventilate their grievances, they needed to bear in mind the fact that a computer, laboratory equipment, chair, table or book they destroyed in such violent demonstrations constituted a deprivation of the same item to the students after them and the subsequent channelling of scarce resources to the provision of an existing facility irresponsibly destroyed.

He, therefore, expressed the hope that the current dispensation of the law and order and peaceful resolution of issues would impact positively on students, who have developed the culturally unacceptable and morally detestable habit of issuing violence-threatening ultimatums to the Government.

The Interior Minister announced that Prempeh College had been included in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports 2004 proposals to the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) the provision of a school bus and the construction of a new assembly hall.

In a message read on behalf of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II he gave the assurance that he would complete the master's bungalow he is building for the school next year.

Professor Agyemang Badu Akosah, Director-General of the Ghana Health Services and National President of Prempeh College Old Students Association, called on the students not to tarnish the hard won reputation and image of the school through indiscipline.

Mr Asamoah Owusu-Achiaw, Headmaster of the School, appealed to stakeholders to endeavour to build additional facilities so as to help accommodate the ever-increasing number of students wishing to gain admission into the school.

He expressed regret that many more students, who had aggregate six, could not gain admission to the school because of inadequate facilities.