By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
Authorities of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), say they and the Ghana Police Service were taken unaware by the violent confrontation that ensued between resident students of the University Hall and Unity Hall on Thursday, August 17, 2022.
According to the University Relations Officer, URO, Dr. Daniel Norris Bekoe, the procession by students of the University Hall, popularly called Katanga Hall, is a normal activity of their annual Hall Week Celebration, but the violence was least expected.
Speaking in an interview, the URO asserted that the irate students will be fished out and the appropriate punishment exacted after a careful review of the captured footage, thanks to the close-circuit cameras mounted at strategic points throughout the university’s campus.
“The police and the internal security did not envisage that, that was going to happen…Fortunately, we’ve networked the whole university campus with CCTV, but most of the students don’t really know. Whatever you do, we can watch you, we can pick you up,” Dr. Bekoe warned.
During GBC’s visit to the university, calm had been restored barely 24 hours after the irate students went on rampage.
At the time of our news team’s arrival at the University, heaps of stones believed to have been used by the students as weapons were being cleared in bins and motor cycles.
Even though uneasy calm had been restored, there was a very heavy police deployment on the campus.
The personnel had been assigned to various strategic locations, including the two feuding halls, Great Hall, the Library, and the Royal Parade Grounds, while others were patrolling the entire university campus.
About 10 students who sustained injuries from the rampage and sought medical treatment at the university’s hospital had also been discharged.
At about 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 17, 2022, a violent confrontation ensued between residents of the University Hall, popularly called ‘Katanga Hall’ and their colleagues at the Unity Hall, also known as ‘CONTI POWER’.
The incident occurred while Katanga Hall students were processing as part of their Hall Week Celebration on KNUST’s main street, which passes in front of the CONTI POWER.
According to university official information, when the processing students got to the CONTI POWER, misunderstanding started during which the Katanga Hall students started a violent attack on their counterparts.
Subsequently, the Hall Master of CONTI POWER called back his students and the gates to the hall were locked, something that appeared to have infuriated the other party, who then turned to the premises of CONTI POWER.
In the heat of it all, the irate students vandalised about 10 private vehicles that had been parked there and destroyed other properties available, including the hall’s signage.
