Occultism rocks university campuses

Member of Parliament (MP) for Asante Akim Central, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi has revealed on the floor of Parliament that occultism, which is foreign to our culture, is on the rise on university campuses in the country posing serious security threat to students.

Mr Anyimadu-Antwi made the revelation in a contribution to a statement made by his colleague MP for Afigya Sekyere East, Hennric David Yeboah, on student safety in the nation’s universities on the floor of Parliament on Thursday.

He said as a lecturer at the university, he witnessed students in groups parading naked on the campuses at the night. These practices are ‘imported’ by foreign students because it is alien to our culture, according to him.

He, therefore, asked universities to do proper background checks on foreign students before admitting them. “University administrations must do everything possible to weed out such bad practices on our campus because they do not only pose serious security threat to students and lecturers, but also the nation as a whole,” he said.

The MP for Efigya Sekyere East, in his statement, said security on the university campuses in the country is becoming a major problem for students.

He said because of the huge number of students admitted into the country’s universities, which have limited accommodation facilities, private individuals in collaboration with the universities have built hostels to accommodate the additional students, adding that the distant locations of the hostels have compounded the security problems.

“The current situation has given a sharp rise to widespread attacks, thefts, armed robberies, assault and rape on the university campuses, especially the public ones,” he indicated.

According to Hon Yeboah, his son was attacked by armed robbers at his hall of residence in one of the private hostels affiliated to a public university and that incident traumatized the son to an extent that he could not write his end of semester examination.

“Mr Speaker, in our quest to make university education stimulating and accessible to all who wish to pursue one, it is important to ensure the safety of students, especially those living in private hostels in and around campuses.”

Private hostels which are affiliated to universities should have military or police patrols for 24 hours, and that access to those private hostels should be restricted to residents, their approved guests and other approved members of the university community, he said.

The MP asked all university authorities to include safety policies in their policy documents to control the activities of private hostels regarding safety of students.

The MP for Fanteakwa South and MP for Amenfi Central, Kofi Okyere-Agyekum and George Kofi Arthur respectively stressed the need for administrators of private hostels to build security walls around their properties.

He called for the institution of proper transportation arrangements for students to be transported safely.