Parliament awaits Education Minister's brief over KNUST rumpus

Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education Peter Nortsu-Kotoe has blamed the violence and destruction of property at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on lack of communication and cooperation on the part of both the University management and the students.

Demonstrating students torch property at KNUST security post

Speaking in an interview on the development, the Ranking Member told Onua FM’s Yen Sempa host, Bright Kwasi Asempa that the Committee is not happy with what happened at the university campus, a situation which has led to the shutdown of the school.

“It came about as a result of lack of communication and break down in cooperation between the University authorities and the students.”

Mr. Nortsu-Kotoe said the Committee is waiting for the Education Minister to return from his visit to the school to come brief the Committee on developments.

“We expect him to come and brief us after his visit. We will not take any immediate actions. We will wait for the Education Minister to come and brief us and if we are not satisfied, we will also embark on a fact-finding mission to the University”.

The Akatsi North MP said “we could have prevented what transpired if the university authorities and the students had cooperated...this would have been prevented.”

“We don’t have to use violence to achieve our goals, preventing these things could have been easy because the internal security is not properly trained to handle such situations.

“They acted harshly and it’s an urgent matter so as soon as [the Education Minister] comes back today, we expect him to meet us and brief us.”

Hundreds of students of the University took to campus to demonstrate against alleged brutalities of students by the internal security.

The peaceful protest turned violent when the student destroyed several public and private property.

The school has currently been closed down after the riot.