Otumfour Inspects KNUST to Inspect Damages After Riots

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, and the Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has paid an official visit to the campus in Kumasi to assess at first hand the extent of damage, following recent disturbances at the University.

The facility was on Monday, October 22, 2018, closed down indefinitely after some aggrieved students, accusing the authorities of an orchestrated maltreatment, went on the rampage and destroyed property worth several millions of Cedis.

The students’ action was in solidarity with eleven (11) of their colleagues who were recently assaulted and arrested by the University’s security unit.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu was met on arrival by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kwasi Obiri-Danso, and subsequently, inspected the worst hit areas, including the General Administration Block, Republic Hall and KNUST Hospital.

The Ghana News agency gathered that the cost of damage runs into about 16 million Ghana Cedis.

The Chancellor who was outside the Country when the incident occurred has been mandated by the government to begin the mediation processes for normalcy to return to the University.

The crisis has led to the dissolution of the University’s Governing Council by government, however, the Asantehene had been asked to reconstitute the governing body as part of the roadmap for peace to prevail.

Some members of the University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (UTAG), who until recently, had laid down their tools in protest over government’s interference in the University’s internal affairs, also joined the Asantehene for the inspection.

Mr Kwame Yeboah Junior, the University’s Relations Officer (URO), told the GNA that hopefully, the facility would be opened soon for academic activities to commence after the Chancellor’s meeting with stakeholders.

GNA