Otumfuo to set up 5-member committee to probe KNUST impasse

The Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology [KNUST], the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II,
has announced that a five-member committee will soon be set up to carry
out a thorough and transparent inquiry into the recent happenings that
led to the closure of the University.

“A full and transparent inquiry must be set up into all the
circumstances leading to the day of horrors. As Chancellor of the
University and in line with the understanding by which government
mandated me to manage this process, I should with appropriate
consultation appoint a five-man committee to be headed by a Judge to
probe both the remote and immediate causes, and the lessons to be learnt
thereof,” Otumfuo Osei Tutu said.

The Committee, which will be headed by a Judge will be mandated to probe
remote and immediate causes of the disturbances at the University.

He says no group will be allowed to dictate and conduct itself in a way
that undermines the integrity of the management of the University.

The Otumfuo, who made the remarks after the swearing in of new members
on the University’s Governing Council today, Tuesday, says defiance and
disorder by students, alumni or any group within the University will not
be tolerated.

“Nothing should be done to hamstring the council from neither
discharging their duty to develop the policies for the running of the
University in accordance with its statutes, nor encourage students to
feel they have the right to defy authority or cherry pick rules they
choose to obey.

“Yes, a university is nothing if not a hotbed of free expression, and
the penchant for rigorous debate, must be one of the intrinsic values we
inculcate in our students. But defiance and disorder can never be part
of those values and it should be abundantly clear that neither students
or alumni or any group in the University shall be allowed to dictate or
conduct itself in a manner that undermines the integrity of management.”