Students of KNUST are protesting what they say is persistent interference in their affairs by the university’s Dean of Students.
The angry students accuse Kofi Owusu Derko, of perpetrating acts to render the Student Representative Council impotent.
Among the many problems the students accuse him, is unconventionally taking charge of the SRC accounts which has rendered the student body incapable of managing their own things.
He is also accused of taking management of SRC hostel as a result is now responsible of distributing rooms at the hostel which according to the students must be under the management of the SRC.
Their outburst has been prompted by reports the Dean had prevented some students of three halls of residence from voting in SRC elections.
The university this year decided to go biometric with the SRC elections to curb the recurring issue of rigging and other election malpractices that accompany the manual system.
As good as the decision seemed, electricity especially affected the process which pushed the elections into the night specifically to end at 8 pm announced by the dean of student.
According to the students, as at 8 pm a reasonable number of students were still in the queue in most of the stations affected by electricity.
However, Dr. Owusu Derko allegedly unplugged the electioneering equipment at Katanga first, then Unity Hall and Africa Hall whiles the other stations continued.
Two traditional all-male rival halls, Unity, also known as Conti and University Hall (Katanga), as well as the only all-female Africa Hall are calling for a re-run of the poll.
They went on a demonstration today to verbally petition the Vice-Chancellor to call Dr. Owusu Derko to order.
First in recent history of the school, the rival male halls (Conti and Katanga) came together to spearhead the demonstration against the Dean.
Some of the students spoke to Luv News.
“We cannot continue like this. Because they realize ‘conti’ and ‘katanga’ are always under each other’s throat, they use that to manipulate us the students.
“How can the dean of student stoop so low to meddle in students politics. This is awful. He did what he did because he had favourite among the candidate he wanted to win.
“They always manipulate student elections to get the ones they can push around. We are fed up and we want him to leave us alone because we are capable of managing our own affairs,” they said passionately.
Vice-Chancellor, Professor William Otoo Ellis, promised to rectify the situation but asked the students to submit a written complaint for consideration.
Meanwhile, Luv News has been unable to reach Dr. Owusu Derko to comment.
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