Unity Hall sues KNUST over mixed hall move
Current students and alumni of Unity Hall also known as Continental Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have sued the management of the university over moves to convert the hall into a mixed-gender hall of residence.
Professor Obiri Danso, Vice-Chancellor of KNUST; Chairman of the KNUST Council and the Master of Unity Hall, have been named as first, second and third defendants in the suit dated 13 July 2018 at the Kumasi High Court.
Unity Hall and University Hall, also known as Katanga, are the two all-male halls in the university but management is implementing a new system to admit 50 per cent females into the all-male hales to promote education of females in the university.
Africa Hall, the only all-female hall will remain as a single-gender hall.
The plaintiffs said they see the move by the school as one to destroy the legacy of their great hall and nothing more and that currently, the university is about sending some 600 or so females to Unity Hall, come August 2018.
They believe the action of the university authorities will not address student accommodation issues and that this approach is not sustainable, as the university can even fill Unity Hall with only females and still not address the issue of accommodation.
“The plaintiffs sense that this move is malicious … and only an attempt to dissipate what was handed down to us by earlier generation. And it is a fact that the university has not even added a block to the existing structure called Unity Hall let alone adding an annex, but just what to destroy the reason behind its establishment without an idea that is not sustainable.
“The plaintiffs humbly present that this intention by the authorities of today to alter the character and nature of Unity Hall from an all-male hall to a mixed-sex hall is wrongful, as same is not backed by any regulation or law and misplaced.
“The plaintiffs respectfully present that it is only a court of law that can save Unity Hall from this intended dissipation by people who may have their own motivation for certain conducts besides the status quo or rules in their operations.
According to them, “Unity Hall, just like Africa Hall, was envisaged by the University’s fore bearers for a continental remembrance, hence, the full name of the Hall being Continental Unity Hall and also, so its character and nature as an all-male hall of residence must be left to stand as a legacy just like Africa Hall being left to stand as an all-female hall of residence, as this entire vision adds to the uniqueness of institution. And seeking to alter the nature of only Unity Hall is discriminatory.”
They are thus, seeking “a declaration that Unity Hall having been expressly so established under a specific regulation and law, the defendants or their successors cannot alter the character and nature of the Unity Hall as an all-male hall unless empowered to do same by regulation and law.”
Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com
