Otumfuo outdoors committee to probe KNUST violence

The Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Thursday inaugurated a three-member committee to investigate a riot by students last October which led to the closure of the University.

The committee is chaired by retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Rose Constance Owusu. Other members are Very Rev. Mrs Ama Afo Blay, former Director General of the Ghana Education Service, and Mr David Adu Osei, Ashanti Regional Director of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), with Mr Kofi Owusu, Registrar of Ashanti Regional House of Chiefs as secretary.

The committee which has not been given any time line, has the mandate to investigate all the circumstances leading to the disturbances and also make recommendations to forestall a future recurrence.

Students of the university went on the rampage upon the insistence of University Council to convert remaining males-only halls, Katanga and Unity, into unisex halls. The students had also alleged systematic maltreatment by university authorities. They destroyed public and private property and clashed with security operatives.

In the ensuing confusion, the council was dissolved, leading to a bitter stalemate between campus labour unions and government.

Source: Graphic online