<<Print>>

Management and some lecturers, some senior, others junior at Ghana�s premiere university, the University of Ghana (UG), have petitioned the president to as a matter of urgency sack the National Security Coordinator, Gbevlo Lartey, from his post, for spearheading actions they described as �unwarranted destruction� against the institution. According to the management, their petition to the president was without any prejudice to any of the matters arising from the planning and implementation of the tolling or the restriction of access to the university�s campus and other ongoing discussions about government�s repayment of the road rehabilitation loan or the University�s ACT. In petition signed by Prof. Akosua Adomako Ampofo and Dr. Lagbon Bimi, accompanied by the signatories of some top executives of the university, members of the UG community (home and abroad), lecturers and some students, on Tuesday March 15, 2014, they expressed confidence in the president as a supporter of rule of law, and believed immediate action would be taken against the security coordinator to confirm government�s sensitivity to the concerns of its citizens. They recalled that around 1; 30 am, on February 18, 2014, the National Security Coordinator along with some other armed men visited the university�s campus and demolished a toll booth and a security post then under construction. They said, the National Security Coordinator subsequently admitted on radio stations that he ordered the demolition and even defended his actions with the excuse that the toll was causing traffic at the university�s entrance. The petitioners further noted that the demolition took place without any prior notice, and that it had generated a considerable sense of insecurity both within and outside the university. They hinted people have been concerned since they are unsure what would happen next in any other situation that Gbevlo Lartey may be deemed to be a nuisance, and that it would be appropriate on the part of the president to consider their plight. �We want to be assured that we will not have to live in fear of reprisals should the government or the National Security apparatus consider any other matter to be a nuisance in future�we are of the view that discourse is a more preferable option to settling disputes than night time attacks, most certainly in a matter involving �traffic overflow�, the petitioners asserted.