Authorities at the Kumasi Technical Institute (KTI) have described as judgmental and unfair comments by the Subin Member of Parliament (MP) on the recent police-KTI students clash.
Eugene Boakye Antwi told parliament the conduct of the students was reprehensible and needed to be stopped but added that the high-handed approach by the police service is most regrettable and must be condemned.
At least 14 students of KTI in the Ashanti Region were hospitalised while 48 others have been detained following a clash with police a couple of weeks ago.
Police have declined comment on the incident but school authorities, who are unhappy with the arrest of the students, say police picked them up for rioting.
The students clashed with the security forces on their way back from the Baba Yara Sports Stadium where they had taken part in an inter-school sports competition in which they had placed 4th, Luv FM’s Erastus Asare Donkor reported.
As part of the celebration, the students reportedly blocked roads leading to their school, causing a heavy traffic.
In the course of the chaos that had been caused by the activities of the students, police arrived to maintain order, however, they failed to heed to the call to disperse..
The situation became even more chaotic after they reportedly began pelting the police officers with stones and burning car tyres.
The Ghana Fire Service had to be called in to in to put out the fires. Police responded with force, firing teargas to disperse them.
School authorities said even when the students fled the scene, police chased them to the school premises and into their dormitories to effect the arrest.
The MP in raising the matter on the floor of Parliament criticized the conduct of the student but this has not gone down well with the school authorities.
The Principal of KTI, Dr. Joseph Abeiku Apprey in response said the MP’s description of the students conduct as reprehensible seeks to judge and put finality on a matter that is under investigation.
“If you look in the dictionary for the meaning of reprehensible, everything about it is negative…our biggest issue is that this was not made at any place but on the floor of parliament where the whole world listens to what goes on in Ghana.
He said they are at a loss how KTI is going to purge themselves of such a description considering that the parliamentary records are as important as supreme court rulings.
“How bad are these boys? How criminal are they? he quizzed. Is there no one among the KTI boys who is good that everyone has to be branded like that,” he quizzed.
Dr Abeiku Apprey told Luv News the MP is yet to visit the school since the incident happened and so wonders where he is getting his information from.
He added that the continuous negative tagging of KTI students without proper investigation casts a gloomy future for students in technical institutions.
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