News:
October 13, 2018
Minority in Parliament is calling for the resignation of the Minister for Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh and the Minister of state in charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah in view of the recent disturbances and impasse at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
At a press conference on Monday, addressed by the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu, he said, “this whole impasse, which has now spiraled out of control, is a failure of leadership by the government and a reflection of the super incompetence that has characterized the Akufo-Addo administration”.
“It must be emphasised that the Minority would not accept the erosion of the rule of law and the deliberate undermining of the sacrosanct principles of academic freedom and the independence of higher institutions of learning as enshrined in Articles 21 and 70 of the Constitution of Ghana and the National Council for Tertiary Education Act, 1993, Act 454”
He further indicated that the Minority in Parliament unreservedly and absolutely denounces the government’s unlawful conduct in dissolving the Council of the University; “we demand the immediate reversal of the illegal act”, he said.
In the view of the Minority, a proactive and consultative leadership would have better managed the government’s unpopular policy of the conversion of single-sex halls of residence at the KNUST. In any case, “we do not believe that of all the issues confronting higher education in Ghana, the conversion of single-sex halls should even feature as a priority at this crucial time”.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if Prof. Kwasi Obiri-Danso must be removed because of this policy and its implementation, then it stands to reason that the two Ministers of Education, namely Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh and Prof. Kwesi Yankah, who publicly endorsed the policy, supervised, championed and praised its implementation, should resign or be fired with immediate effect. The Minority hereby demands that the two ministers must be treated equally just as Prof. Obiri-Danso”.
By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com