Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has calmed down aggrieved members of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union who threatened to stop an ongoing Governing Council meeting.
The members are protesting a decision by the Education Minister to drop the Union’s nominated representative on the KNUST Council.
TEWU had previously criticised the council’s constitution as being undemocratic.
The Union says it nominated Charles Arthur to represent its members on the council and insists he must be sworn in.
The local chairman of the Union for the University of Energy and Natural Resources, Agana Cesar, told Citi News the Minister must stop interfering in the union’s affairs.
“They want to look down on this union. We believe that the current administration, though the Minister of Education, is interfering a lot in the university which we believe must stop.”
“He came to KNUST after the impasse with students and security and tried to create confusion by removing the vice-chancellor when you have no authority.”
In October 2018, the government constituted an interim University council after it closed down KNUST following a violent student protest.
It gave the council a three-month tenure to work towards addressing the impasse between students and the university management while making sure the University reopens before November 8, 2018.
The new council, which had seven members, was without the Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Professor Obiri Danso, but had the student body represented.
This generated a lot of controversies and caused agitation among various stakeholders including the lecturers, administrators, senior staff and education workers of KNUST with the lecturers and administers declaring an indefinite strike over the matter.