Nineteen students of the Sunyani Polytechnic who were arrested for their alleged involvement in riots at the school last Monday have been granted police enquiry bail.
The students were demanding accountability from the president of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC), Mr Gordon Appiah, whom they accused of embezzling GH¢200,000 from the SRC’s coffers.
The aggrieved students who tried to have access to the SRC president and his executives threw stones at the school’s security men and some administrative staff members who kept the president away to prevent him from being lynched by the students. The school’s authorities had to call the police in to whisk the SRC president away from the campus.
The students are: George Ntim Antwi, Caleb Mba, Theophilus Ndego, Richmond Ansah, Joseph Anaase, David Adomako, Isaac Adukwa, Patricia Gyabea, Dominic Tininya Anaba and Ernest Adu. The rest are: Alex Debrah, Mohammed Fuseini, Oppong D. Bashir, Nathaniel Asibi, Benjamin Mensah, Justin Nguta, Samuel Brefo, Amponsah Manu and Albin Kangiri Salifu.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Brong Ahafo Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr Christopher Tawiah, said the students were arrested when they pelted the police with stones in their attempt to disperse them.
He explained that the police went to the school’s campus to rescue Mr Appiah, a 27-year-old final-year Marketing student and his Project Manager, Mr Felix Adu, 23, who had been kept in one of the offices by the school’s authorities.
Mr Tawiah said when the students realised that the police had come to rescue the SRC president and his project manager, they started throwing stones at the police until they sent Mr Appiah and Mr Adu to the regional police headquarters.
According to him, soon after they sent the two SRC executives to the police headquarters for protection, the irate students mobilised themselves and followed up to the regional headquarters where they stood at the main entrance and threw stones at the police.
He said the police managed to disperse them, adding that the students went back to their campus and blocked the main road in front of the campus and started misconducting themselves. Mr Tawiah said the police managed to arrest the 19 students in the ensuing melee.
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