Tertiary students threaten nationwide protests

Tertiary students say they may be gearing up for a massive demonstration against government's decision for students to pay part of their water and electricity bills.

The decision became public when in the last few weeks, the Ghana Water Company, a service provider, cut water supplies to some tertiary institutions particularly in the Ashanti Region.

The schools were hugely indebted to the company for the water they had used.

Following the incident, issues of government's inability to release money for such payments came up for discussion.

Government thus asked managers of the country's tertiary educational institutions to absorb part of the cost for utilities by levying students. Managers of the schools agreed to the idea, but it appears students' input were not taken to reach a conclusion on the matter.

Speaking at a conference Tuesday at the Independence Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the Confederation of Tertiary Institutions Ghana, COTIG, vowed students were not going to pay for utilities as announced by government and approved by their authorities.

COTIG, which is an amalgamation of all tertiary student bodies in the country, said the directive is insensitive to the plight of students.

They also described as bogus government's explanation that the decision was to ensure some equity.

Addressing a group of charged students at the KNUST's Independent Hall, the President of KNUST's Student Representative Council, SRC, Alex Coma, cautioned that if Government does not revert the directive they will pile excess pressure through massive protests across the country.

Alex Coma told TV3's Ashanti Regional Correspondent, William Evans Nkum, that, if Government felt students were not conserving energy, the most appropriate thing to do is to embark on a sensitization drive rather than seek to burden them by pushing the cost of utility on them.

The students at the news conference had banners with the inscription 'Yentua Utility Bills' which means, 'We will not pay utility bills'.