President of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Kyeremeh Oppong Daniel says the unfortunate death of a student of Akenten Appiah-Minkah University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) should not lead to abolishment of traditional rites performed by students in tertiary institutions.
His comment comes on the back of the death of the Chief Priest of Opoku Ware Hall at AAMUSTED, Prosper Owusu, alias “arrested”.
The 23-years-old level 300 student and a member of “the Dons” spiritual group on the campus sustained severe burns while performing rituals on campus.
His traditional smock caught fire while he was displaying his alleged spiritual power in the company of his colleague spiritualist from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Katanga Hall.
According to a student source “while he was displaying and the fire caught his smock, he refused to put off the fire claiming the fire has activated his fetish power. He was later overpowered by the fire after he failed to remove the smock. He quickly ran into a pool of water but it was too late for him. We noticed he had sustained serious burns, so we rushed him to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. Unfortunately, he died a week after his admission” a student narrated.
Commenting on the issue further in an interview on Ghana Kasa show on Kasapa 102.5FM/Agoo TV, President of NUGS, Kyeremeh Oppong Daniel said as problematic as some of the students’ activities may be, outright abolishment of such activities is not the way to go.
“If you look at some of our big universities like KNUST, the authorities have abolished jama and traditional rites on various campuses. But I can’t advocate that all these activities must be abolished totally because schooling is not only about learning. It is through some of these activities that some students build connections with others, and also build their social currency.
‘What I will rather advocate is for school authorities to put in place measures to streamline some of these activities so that they don’t end in death or have dire consequences moving forward. The death of our colleague student is unfortunate, and we pray we never recorded such avoidable death on campus.”
Source: Kasapafmonline.com/102.5FM
