Prof. William Gariba’s decision last week to abruptly resign as the Dean of Students of the Kwame Nkumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) raised questions about whether something behind the scenes led to the move.
Professor William Gariba
The decision, after all, came during the odd period of students writing their end of first semester examination in January 2019 and was a shock to students of the University.
But Prof Gariba insists there was “no smoking gun” and that he resigned due to reasons he chose not to disclose. He said his decision has nothing to do with recent impasse in the School as many believe is the reason for his resignation.
The Student Representative Council (SRC) has equally expressed surprise over the Dean’s resignation describing it as shocking.
Public Relations Officer of the Council, Maxwel Asante Dankwa indicated this in an interview stating that the Council did not call for the head of the out gone Dean of Students.
“We never at any point called for his head and we’re not in anyway happy with his decision. We are pretty much indifferent, we find the decision shocking like everyone else does and we’re just hoping that we charge a good course to finding a worthy replacement,” he said.
“The reasons that have been cited per what I’ve been made preview to are personal and we’re of the opinion that if indeed they’re anything to go by then he is very much within his right to take that decision,” Maxwell Asante further stated.
Professor William Gariba was appointed as Vice Dean in 2016 and became Substantive Dean in 2017 following the retirement of the former Dean, Professor Kofi Ohene Owusu-Daaku.
What Could Possibly Trigger His Resignation
Many students blamed management of the school especially the Dean of Students for the recent happenings following October 22nd, 2018 violent protest by students which led to the closure of the school for a period of three weeks calling on the Dean of students to resign.
Student protesters had demanded his resignation amid complaints that his office wasn’t doing enough to deal with the concerns of students.
KNUST Announces for a Replacement of URO and Head of Security
Management of KNUST has announced for the appointment of new Head of Campus Security to replace the acting head, Mr. Jacob K. Semahar and new University Relations Officer to replace Mr. kwame Yeboah Jnr.
The two were widely accused of incompetence how they managed things which might have lead to the October 2018 impasse which hit the university.
