Hot Videos: Katanga boy who was beaten by school security loses his memory; parents curse V.C

One student resident at Katanga Hall at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is battling for his life at the Tech Hospital in Kumasi after he was brutalized by school security Friday night.

Sources at the hospital say, the victim has lost his memory as a result of severe wounds to his head. a photograph of him on his sick bed shows traces of blood on the bedding, a plaster to his ears and occiput and a swollen mouth.

Eleven others and one old student are also in the custody of the Tech Police after suffering severe beatings, when the school’s security scuttled a peaceful vigil at the forecourt of the University Hall, otherwise known as Katanga Hall.

School security pounced on unarmed students who were having a peaceful vigil at the forecourt of the hall in protest of management’s freeze on “morale”, a usual Friday night jamboree in all the halls at the school.

“Notice is hereby given that all forms of “morales” in and around the University Hall are suspended with immediate effect. This decision was taken in view of several negative issues encountered recently with respect to morales in the hall. Any person who flouts this directive shall receive the necessary sanction and response”, a communiqué signed and posted by “Hall Management” and sighted by Angel News read.

Angel FM’s Nanayaw Amagyei who was at the school at the time of the incident reports, school security numbering over 20 and armed to the teeth who said they were “only carrying out an order”, pounced on the students who had gathered at the forecourt and singing dirges, arrested seven and brutalized them with canes and tasers unprovoked.

The rampaging security men, escorted by some officers of the Tech Police accosted the journalist (NanaYaw Amagyei) who was filming the students at the vigil and ceased his video camera, before unleashing the attack on the unsuspecting students, after being convinced that there was no camera or recorder in hand to record their deeds.

The said camera is still in the custody of the KNUST security as at the time of filing this story.

An alumnus of the hall, whose name was not immediately known but nicknamed as “Ashaina”, who was present at the time of the attack is also in the custody of the Tech Police after been brutalized and whisked away in a security van alongside seven students.

One student who was singled-out and chased till he was caught by the marauding security personnel is battling for his life at the University Hospital, after sustaining severe injuries and shocks, dragged on the floor and kicked till he collapsed.

The authorities of the school are yet to make any statement on the matter.

At the time of filing this story, the alumni association was at the tech police station to secure bail for the arrested students.

some parents of the arrested students early Saturday amassed at the Tech Police Station to demand the release of their wards, but as at 2 PM Saturday afternoon, they had not gotten access to them, as police and school authorities remain tight lipped on the matter.

An aggrieved parent, a mid sobs cursed the Vice Chancelor of the university, Prof Obiri Danso.
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Background

The university, at the beginning of the 2018/19 academic year converted all of its six traditional halls into mixed ones.

The halls – Katanga, Unity, Africa, Independence, University, Unity and Queen Elizabeth – now house both male and female students.

The conversion came despite strong opposition from a section of the students and alumni.

Authorities say the conversion is in line with the university’s aim of expanding access to female students.

But former residents of the hall see the move as calculated one intended to put the all-male hall, Katanga down.

“We have always known since our saint, K.A. Andam passed away that all the vice chancellors will come chasing Katanga because we are the only hall on campus that has the testicular fortitude to take them on.”

Giving a chronology of events by the university authority to put Katanga down, which have all failed, former Katanga President, Nana Otu Turkson said the authorities have simply run out of ideas to execute their agenda.

“Despite earlier resistances by the students for the admission of girls to the hall, male students are co-existing peacefully with their female counterparts at the Katanag Hall”, Nanayaw Amagyei reports