Irate Poly Students On Demonstration

Drama unfolded at the Central Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) on Wednesday when the outgoing Regional Minister, E.K.T Addo and his deputy, Queenstar Pokuah Sawyer snubbed polytechnic students, who stormed the place to submit a petition on the strike by the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG).

DAILY GUIDE gathered that the irate students, who besieged the place at about 11:00am, stood in the scorching sun for close to one hour, a situation, which compelled them to break protocol by approaching the minister’s office to present the petition amidst drumming and chanting war songs.

It took the intervention of the police officers to stop the angry students from entering the minister’s office.

The minister and his deputy, upon sensing danger, came down to receive the furious students, who were bent on doing everything possible to ensure that the petition was received and sent to President Mahama.

The students travelled from the Cape Coast Polytechnic Campus through the principal streets of Cape Coast to RCC as part of the protest march.

The students, dressed in red and black attire, expressed displeasure about government’s refusal to pay the salaries of the lecturers to enable them go back to the classroom.

They held placards with the inscription, “Mahama, you are failing mother Ghana, ‘Strike in strike out,’ we need the lecturers back immediately, no vote for Mahama in the 2016 elections, ‘Yen tai Obia’ President do something before you leave, “Never undermine polytechnic education,” among others.

A petition read by the SRC President, Benjamin Asamoah said thousands of polytechnic students cannot graduate because their lecturers had embarked on a strike over pay and condition of service for about three weeks.

“We are surprised that government was made aware months ago on the strike and did nothing to prevent what it calls illegal strike, government is only interested in protecting its name and not the citizens,” he added.

Asamoah called on the government to address the grievances of the lecturers and also take polytechnic education seriously.

Mr. E.K.T Addo, who received the petition, thanked them and promised to forward it to the president immediately.

It has never been the intention of the government to keep them out of classroom, he indicated.

The outgoing minister noted that the government intends to put measures in place to end the strike by POTAG.