...Students Pull Their 'Rods'

The Authorities of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) are doggedly investigating the mystery surrounding the indecent behaviour of some students of Casely Hayford Hall during the Hall Week celebrations that has brought the name of the institution into disrepute, Chronicle has learnt.

Before the authorities can unravel those who were involved in the said indecent behaviour that had left a sour taste in the mouths of hordes of people, mostly market women at Kotokoraba market, an indefinite ban had been placed on the Hall, preventing it from participating in such event again.

A few weeks after the lifting of the ban on demonstration and float at UCC, the leadership of Casely Hayford Hall wrote to the authorities of the school, applying for permission to stage a float and demonstration during the celebrations of the Hall Week.

Having assured the authorities to be of good behaviour and comport themselves well during the float in the Cape Coast municipality, they were given the green light by the school's authorities, Chronicle has learnt.

The whiff of what was in store during the celebrations of the Hall emerged when, during a demonstration on campus, the students stormed VALCO Hall and destroyed property belonging to their neighbours without any cause.

Property destroyed was estimated at ?5million

As if that was not enough, the students decided to go on the float the next day, December 5, last year, in the municipality of Cape Coast on anti-HIV/AIDS campaign, which was seen as a move in the right direction.

But this laudable move turned sour at the Kotokoraba market when in broad day light before hundreds of market women, some of the students stripped naked to demonstrate to the women how to put on condoms to the disbelief of all assembled.

The women, who could not stand the nightmare they were witnessing, abandoned their wares and deserted the market during the time that the students were around.

As the women ran helter-shelter to avoid witnessing such display of uncivilised and indecent behaviour, the students who had stripped naked did not care a hoot as they moved from one end to the other, displaying their precious 'rods'.

"There was total pandemonium in the market as people, mostly women, ran to seek solace to avoid the students' madness," a trader who spoke on condition of anonymity to Chronicle revealed.

Sources within the corridors of UCC confirmed the indecent behaviour of the students, saying a committee had been set up to investigate the incident.

"Everything possible is being done by the committee to fish out those students who were involved in that shameful indecency during the Hall Week celebrations," the sources said.

It also came to light that the authorities at VALCO Hall had forwarded the estimated cost of the property that was destroyed at the Hall to Casely Hayford students for settlement.

"It is surprising that just a few weeks after the ban on demonstrations and floats in the school were lifted for a similar reason, students did not learn anything from such a ban only for them to soil the name of the school in their first outing," an authority who did not want his identity to be known told Chronicle.

The source said since the students were not prepared to give out their colleagues, the committee was threading cautiously not to rush into conclusions, hoping that at the end of the day those students would be fished out to face sanctions.

According to an official source, their doors were open to anybody who has information on those students who were involved in such acts to come forward with the information, but the question is: will people respond to such a call?