The announcement by the government that the three universities of Ghana should be closed down following student demonstration came as a surprise to many people, especially since the background to that grave decision was not generally known. 

The students’ single most important contention is that the demonstrations were staged as a protest against the alleged beating up of a student, George Kwashi Doh, by military authorities at Ho. Students from Legon also intended to present a petition to the Head of State as part of the protest and it is our information that the petition was actually lodged with the authorities. 

The petition expressed shock at the brutality inflicted on a Legon student whose only crime was to ask why a group of people were being maltreated in Ho. According to the student petition, the student had been taken to a Major Grant who had ordered that he should be beaten. He had subsequently been locked up in a guard-room for three days, kept at a Police Station for a day and finally brought before a magistrate on charges of obstructing peace officers in the discharge of their duties and associating himself with “wee” smokers. The petition went on to make the follow- ing demands: 

(1) The officer concerned should be disciplined 

(2) A decree banning torture of civilizans must be promulgated immediately. 

(3) Steps should be taken to withdraw immediately, the charges preferred against the student. 

The conduct of the demonstrations was not very alarming. The Legon group was prevented from getting into town by a barrier which had been erected and was guarded by the military. In Cape Coast, students marched through the town without causing damage, got as far as the Regional Commissioner’s premises where they eventually encountered a clash with the military. In Kumasi too the march was without incident apart from the odd encomium from the sideliners. They got near the premises of the Regional Com- missioner who ordered them to go back to their campus. 

Following the demonstration the government issued a statement ordering a close down of the Universities. A part of the statement said: “Inspite of the existing  good relations with the Government, the students refused to acquaint the Government, with their grievances. They also refused to listen to members of the N.R.C.who urged them to submit their grievances for redress. They rather decided to demonstrate. While the Government has shown its willingness to co-operate fully with the students and has supported their legitimate aspirations, the Government cannot tolerate acts of lawlessness and vandalism which are not in tune with the revolutionary spirit of building new Ghana.” 

In Kumasi, it is alleged that the military were actually engaged in the removal of students from the Campus. However, an allegation that a student was killed in Cape Coast has been found to be without substance. 

Naturally, the close down of the University has given vent to a good deal of speculation as to its “real” causes—the suggestion being that the events alleged to have happened at Ho provided merely the occasion. In the light of the speculations the National Union of Ghana Students has issued the following press statement: 

“Events of the past few days have generated much public discussion and many have given different interpretations to them. But we are aware that the cause is neither due to the Ho incident alone nor brutalities on students, rather it is the result of the series of indiscriminate acts of military cum police assaults on defenseless civilians. 

We have had occasion, in the past, to protest against isolated incidents of unwarranted drills and severe beatings of civilians in many parts of the country. Contrary to the belief that we failed to make use of existing channels of communications, we wish to point out that we have on many occasions, drawn the attention of the Government to some of these unfortunate acts. 

When a female student of Cape Coast University was brutally manhandled by the military last year, a report was made on the issue to the Central Regional Commissioner but nothing concrete was done about it. In the same way, when a student of Zuarungu Secondary School was manhandled, complaints which were lodged with the Regional Education Officer with copies to the Commissioner for Education, came to nought. There are some who think the Ho incident involved merely a drill. But it was worse than that. Photographs taken of the victim even after 6 days of the incident show that he was brutally assaulted.” 

The statement continued: “We would therefore like the Government to show its good intentions by coming out boldly to declare support for our stand, which merely attempts to seek guarantees for the liberty of our people. 

Whenever there have been genuine student upheavals, others outside the arena of events easily attempt to make unjustified conjectures that the students are being used by politicians. We wish therefore to point out that it would be naive to suppose that there is the faintest element of infiltration of politicians into student ranks. Such false impressions rather tend to underrate the intelligence of the Ghanaian students. Let the public disabuse their minds of such a wild allegation. 

Just as we have had occasion to support Govern- ment policies which we deemed to be in the best interest of the people, so did we find it necessary to call attention to the obnoxious system which unreasonably subjects our people to inhuman treatment. 

Without any hesitation we call on the Govern- ment to re-open all Universities and recall ALL STUDENTS without recourse to re-application.” 

Meanwhile, Government has set up a Committee headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. Gyeke Darko to investigate the recent demonstration by students of the three universities. It has also been reported that the charges against Mr. George Kwashi Doh have been dropped.