KNUST Defers 6,000 Students: Majority of Them Squandered Their Fees - Dr. Otchere-Ankrah Claims

Over 6,000 students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have been deferred due to delays in payment of their fees.

This action comes after the students could not pay their academic user fees which had April 11, 2022, as the deadline.

Dr Daniel Norris Bekoe, the University Relations Officer, alleged that some of the affected students had invested their fees in ventures such as bakery, online taxi services like Uber among others.

As this becomes a huge matter of concern to many Ghanaians, there are however some people praising the students for their entreprenuerial skills.

Sharing his thoughts on the issue, Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah, a Governance Lecturer at the Central University, has jabbed the students for using their fees for something else.

Speaking on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', as a lecturer with many years of experience, he explained why the University would wait till now to take the necessary disciplinary action against the affected students.

He noted that the Universities, both public and private, usually turn to be empathetic towards the students, particularly the underprivileged, and so have packages for those who cannot pay their fees in full to pay them in instalments till they graduate.

So, to him, it is a common practice in all the Universities to find some students who cannot pay their fees, however the problem is when the students don't use their fees for its purpose.

Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah took with a pinch of salt the account that the 6,000 KNUST students used their fees to operate Uber, bakery and so forth.

To him, it's a misplaced priority on the side of the students because it is unadvisable for them to invest their fees in such ventures.

''Because of my experience, I know that about 1,000 of them genuinely don't have the money. It cannot be true that all the 6000 have gone to buy Uber. I'm saying those who genuinely cannot pay, they may be about 1,000. They are saying some of them have invested in bakery. It might be just a handful but the majority of them have squandered the money," he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi.

He argued that some of the students desire to "live lavish lives as if there is no tomorrow", hence will do anything to get rich or die trying.

He revealed that there are some who use their fees for betting in hope of doubling the money for their personal gains.

"Some people are really impoverished but I will never support a student who says he united with his friends to use his school fees to buy Uber. You have lost it! In terms of priority, you've lost it!!"

In his candid opinion, the KNUST students have made the wrong investments and facing the consequences of their choices.

"You can only invest money that has no activity to perform," he asserted.