KNUST Vice-Chancellor introduced to Rawlings

Accra, March 1, GNA - President Jerry John Rawlings on Wednesday praised the role the private sector is playing in assisting the government to finance education and said more is expected in that area.

He said the private sector is the direct beneficiary of products of institutions of higher learning and it is, therefore, proper that private industry contributes to their education. "This is the pay-back time."

The President said this when Professor A. S. Ayim was introduced to him as the new Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.

Nana Adu Gyamfi Ampem, Chairman of the University Council did the introduction. President Rawlings said he was not unaware of the intrigues that went on before Prof. Ayim's election and asked lecturers to stop playing politics in the universities.

"The universities do not belong to the areas they are located. They belong to the nation." He said certain individuals, having failed in politics have gone back to the universities and are using them as platforms to pour scorn on the government, "taking advantage of the dynamism of students."

"They devote much time to hacking at the government and do not use sound arguments. We expect them to approach issues in a balanced manner." Mr Nathan Quao, an Adviser to the President, recalled the instability that preceded Prof. Ayim's election and told him "to show magnanimity.

Let the past be buried." Prof. Ayim, an expert in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, said he would work hard to ensure that the KNUST works to achieve the vision of its founding fathers.