Incumbent Junior Common Room (JCR) Executives from all six halls at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have petitioned the university’s management to rescind a decision to abolish the JCR system with immediate effect.
The decision to abolish the JCR system was announced last Saturday following recommendations by a fact-finding committee set up to look into the Thursday, August 18 clashes between students of University Hall, popularly called Katanga, and those of Unity Hall, popularly called Conti(nentals).
The recommendation was accepted by the KNUST Council, which also approved other tough measures to maintain sanity in campus.
“Any student/students who is/are caught to be harboring dismissed, rusticated, withdrawn student(s) and/alumnus/alumna in his/her room in any of the Halls of Residence on Campus, shall be sanctioned, appropriately,” the statement by the KNUST Council on Saturday also warned.
However, a petition signed by JCR Executives following an emergency meeting called by the Speaker of the KNUST Students Parliament, Sulemana Shamuna, on Sunday, August 28, requests that the decision be reversed immediately.
“We resolved after our deep-seated consultation and consideration of all matters surrounding this Clash, we have come to the realization that, scrapping the JCR system at all the Six Halls as a way to mitigate clashes among just two of these halls needs to be re-looked at,” the petition demanded.
“The problem of student clash is different from the JCR of these halls. It’s worthy to note that the JCR is in charge of the residents of these halls who are basically freshers, for which we hold the conviction that most of the perpetrators of this clashes are non-residents who are not under the JCR.
“How do we blame the JCR for this and as a result call for their dissolution. It is worthy mentioning that, the system becomes much explicit as the University management has always mentioned Alumni in these disturbances which the JCR has no command over the Alumni.
“This is to communicate that, there is a force beyond the Control of the JCR and thus
abolishing the JCR does not translate into the dissolution of these forces.
“We are afraid to mention that, we see more danger in this approach than even the issue at hand.”
The petition was copied to the Chancellor, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Rita Akosua Dickson, Chairman of the University Council, Pro Vice Chancellor, and Director of Students Affairs among others.
