KNUST riot: Professor Obiri-Danso will soon be history - Nana B

With no apparent end in sight in an ongoing crisis at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) following a protest by students of the institution, National Youth Organiser of the governing New Patriotic Party is calling for the end of the Prof Obiri-Danso led era for peace to prevail.

The call by the NPP youth activist comes on the back of concerns over the leadership style of the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof Obiri-Danso by the agitating students.

The students have today, Monday October 22, 2018, been demonstrating and in the process destroyed several property of the academic institution while subjecting cars and other belongings of faculty members to destruction.

More than 30 cars have so far been damaged as the rampaging students vent their spleen over what they describe as the unfair and unwarranted abuse of their colleague by the University Security and some Police officers last week.

The students allege that the deafening silence by the school’s Vice Chancellor following the brutalities meted out to their colleague smacks of irresponsibility and a lack of concern – a situation they say cannot be tolerated anymore.

Commenting on the issue on social media site Facebook, the governing party’s National Youth Organiser, Henry Nana Boakye, popularly referred to as Nana B said the end of the KNUST Vice Chancellor was near, presumably over his handling of the several concerns raised by the students early on.

Nana B in registering his displeasure at the situation posted, “I am very confident that Prof Obiri Danso will soon be history very very soon.” His call coincides with a similar one by law Professor Kwaku Azar, who says he stands with students of the university in “rejecting the reign of terror that is being unleashed…”

Professor Azar also posted on Facebook saying, “The VC has not commented on the student who was maimed by his security forces and is currently battling for his life at the University hospital. He has not commented on the students who have been arrested for holding a vigil on the university campus.

Rather, from the comfort of his ivory tower, he has issued a communique reminding students that lectures are compulsory and it will be in their own best interest if they do attend.

The only purpose of this communique is to further intimidate students, at a time when the VC should be visiting the student battling for his life and reassuring students.

This is not leadership!

No student, frankly no lecturer, should attend lectures while their colleagues are under arrest and battling for their lives for merely holding a vigil.

I stand with the KNUST students in rejecting the reign of terror that is being unleashed on them.

Da Yie!”

Background

According to the agitating KNUST students, security men encamped their campus over the weekend and brutalized them, leaving some of their colleagues hospitalized.

The Students’ Representative Council said the chaos on campus was as a result of the campus security and police officers’ “gross deviation”.

A third-year student affiliated to the Katanga Hall was one of several who were severely beaten by the police and is said to be on admission with fears he may have suffered brain damage.

Eleven others and an alumnus of the institution were also arrested for partaking in a vigil last week. They were arrested for embarking on the action which had been described ‘illegal’ following a recent decree by the Vice Chancellor of the University.

Professor Kwasi Obiri-Danso was elected as Vice Chancellor of the University on August 1, 2016 for a four-year term which will end on July 21, 2020. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences and an MPhil in Food Microbiology from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and a PHD in Environmental Microbiology from Lancaster University, United Kingdom.