An eyewitness who was present during an altercation between the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong and the Central Regional Police Commander, DCOP Paul Manly Awini at the North Campus of the University of Education Winneba (UEW) has explained to MyNewsGh.com how it all happened.
He admitted that the lawmaker became furious and nearly went physical; explaining that it was necessitated by the conduct of the police chief who should have known better.
Mr. Kennedy Agyapong who led a delegation on the instruction of the Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh to the school to calm down tempers following days of protestations, was cautioning them against lawlessness.
The eyewitness explained that Mr Kennedy Agyapong cautioned the police against maltreating the students so as not to escalate the already tensed situation following the dismissal of some senior lecturers and staff by the current Vice-Chancellor Reverend Father Prof Anthony Afful-Broni.
While addressing students and their leadership, the police chief without recourse to the presence of the lawmaker was reluctant to call his men to stand down and stop the use of tear gas on the students on the rampaging students considering that calm was returning to the school at the time.
According to Mr. Kennedy Agypong, DCOP Paul Manly Awini indicated that they had been given specific instructions to go after the rowdy students and even tried arresting some of them in his presence while he was calming the students, an act that got him angry as revealed in a video that has gone viral on social media.
The NPP firebrand, therefore, descended on him saying “What is that you are doing? If you play the fool they will remove your clothes” while angrily heading towards where the police chief who was standing opposite where he was but the others restrained him amidst shouts from the students in support of the action of Mr Kennedy Agyapong.
Meanwhile, Central Regional Minister Kwamena Duncan has revealed the school has been closed down and will remain so until a decision is arrived at.
“That decision was taken based on sound security judgment, it is not possible when we’ve gone to the campus in the morning to announce the closure of the school, in the evening of that same day we’ll turn round and say the school has reopened. No such announcement has been made and it there will be any such announcement it will come from the person who announced the closure.” He disclosed on Accra-based Kasapa Fm.