By Kwesi Yankah 

LEGON, ACCRA 

A man believed to be a policeman off-duty made an unsuccessful attempt to snatch the rifle of a colleague, another policeman on guard at the Legon Branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank; and if he had been successful, he would probably have used it to scare away angry students of the University of Ghana who were surging towards him in a bid to grab and throw him and three others into a pond. The incident was one of a series of rowdy midnight happenings that made the March 19. 2 very memorable one in the lives of students of the University here. 

It had been triggered off by a suspicion that the Legon Commercial Bank Manager was surreptitiously changing old cedi notes for “midnight clients”. Eventually, not only were four of the alleged midnight clients thrown into a frog-inhabited quadrangular pond that stands between the University’s magnificent Balme Library and the University Round About. Two cars, one belonging to Mr. Gyebi Donkor the Bank Manager and the other alleged to be owned by one of the clients, Mr. Kwadwo Osei Dwemoh, a businessman, were also pushed into the pond by the students. That was the first time in the life of Student Power that cars had been ‘ponded” according to a senior Legonite. 

A spokesman for the students said one of the four men involved could be identified as the policeman who had been on duty at the Bank between 2.00 p.m. and 10.00 p.m. on the day of the incident. The sum of C3,000.00 (old cedis) was found on him by the students, according to the spokesman. This was beside another revelation by the students,

confirmed by the Logon Police that a total of over C29,000.00 (old cedis) was found on the businessman and Mr. Gyebi Boamah of the Central Revenue Department, both of whom had been arrested by the students. The Bank Manager and the three others are meanwhile helping the police in their investigations. 

A student spokesman, narrating the story, said at approximately 11.00 p.m. the curiosity of the students was aroused when they saw the Commercial Bank budding with activity whilst a fleet of cars stood in front of it. The students had earlier been hinted that a 250 Mercedes Benz car belonging to a Syrian made frequent trips to the bank at midnight. These, coupled with the unusually short spell that the new cedi exchange lasted earlier in the day, lent weight to the suspicion that underground deals could be going on. 

Students were immediately mobilised, and in a matter of minutes the precincts of the bank was surrounded by Over five hundred furious students posed for discipline. Sensing danger, one of the suspected midnight clients, believed to be a policeman off-duty, engaged in a tussle with the policeman on duty in a bid to seize his gun and with it scare away the students, who are known to have a peculiar phobia for the gun.

In the process, a bundle fell from him, which according to the spokesman, contained three thousand old cedis. The students grabbed him and while they solemnly sang a well-rehearsed hymn “Lead Kindly Light” tossed him into the pond. Three other suspects were also subjected to the “ponding ritual” and these included an ‘old’ man described as owning an orange V.W. Beetle, and the businessman, Mr. Dwemoh. 

The students said they found in the businessman’s suitcase large sums of old cedi notes as well as a note which contained a break down of various sums intended for the policeman on duty, the bank manager, messenger etc. e.i. if the deal should succeed. In the heat of the muscle flexing, the students deflated the tyres of all the cars parked in front of the bank. 

Meanwhile, a section of the students were awaiting the Bank Manager to come out of his office. But when over an hour of waiting and chanting could not bring him out, the students who resisted all temptation to ‘charge’ his office, pushed his car into the pond, in lieu of him. This was past midnight. 

At 2.00 a.m., an Inspector of the Legon Police Station allegedly arrived on the scene and arrested the Bank Manager who on being escorted was manhandled by the students. He was later treated and discharged at the Legon hospital. About half an hour later, the students went back to the Bank, according to the spokesman, and with difficulty pushed a second car belonging to the businessman into the pond. 

Asked to comment on the incident, an observer said such incidents should have occurred in the country with a greater degree of frequency during the period of exchange. “because the rural dweller on whose toils the country lives travels to the nearest Bank and. sleeps there for days coming back home in frustration; this is student power at work; “he said. A Bank official, however, described the incident as unfortunate.