Soldiers storm KNUST

Soldiers have been deployed to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to augment efforts by the police to control rampaging students.

Scores of the soldiers arrived in several vehicles on campus on Monday, October 22 after the students mounted roadblocks, burnt tyres on the streets within campus and vandalised property.

Millions of Ghana cedis worth of properties were destroyed.

Thousands of aggrieved students took part in what was meant to be a peaceful demonstration but the situation escalated into chaos.

The students destroyed vehicles belonging to staff and passersby.

Authorities of the university are scheduled to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the way forward.

The University Relations Officer, Kwame Yeboah, expressed disappointment with the conduct of the students when he spoke to Class91.3FM’s John Essien.



According to him, the authorities of the university were patiently waiting for the students to submit an official petition to them but all they saw was vandalism and destruction of property.

Meanwhile, the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has condemned the alleged assault of some 10 students and an alumnus, who were arrested by the police on Friday, 19 October 2018, for holding a vigil on campus without authorisation.

The situation caused some angry parents to storm the KNUST police station to demand the release of their children. The students were later released but the university said it will not rest on the matter.

NUGS, in a statement, said it supports the demonstration by the students as well as their boycott of lectures.

NUGS has called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, to “constitute a committee to investigate the matter and bring the perpetrators to book to serve as a deterrent to others” who may want to infringe upon the rights of students.