Students of the University Hall, popularly called Katanga, and their counterparts of Unity Hall (Conti) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), in the early hours of Sunday, clashed at the vetting of candidates for the Students Representative Council (SRC) elections.

The clash, which was characterised by the throwing of chairs and other ‘missiles’ at the Great Hall of the university, where the vetting took place, left one student injured.

It also led to damage to school property, including chairs, glass doors and flower vases.

But for the intervention of the university security and the police, who helped to restore calm to the campus, the clash would have extended beyond the Great Hall and could have been more violent.

Cause

The two halls are considered traditional rivals on the campus and, according to sources, the clash, which occurred around 2:45 a.m., resulted from a misunderstanding between supporters of two candidates vying for the SRC presidency.

The source said the confusion broke out when a member of the campaign team of the Conti Hall candidate tried to prevent supporters of the candidate from the Katanga Hall from entering the hall.

Some of the items destroyed

That angered the Katangees, who allegedly attacked the Conti campaign team member and beat him to pulp. There was an angry reaction from the Conti Hall campaign team, disrupting the vetting exercise.

All SRC activities suspended

As a result of the clash, the electoral committee of the university has decided to suspend the SRC elections until further notice.

Additionally, the management of KNUST has put all SRC activities on hold until further notice.

The University Relations Officer (URO), Dr Daniel Norris Bekoe, who confirmed the incident to the Daily Graphic, said the university management would constitute a committee to investigate the incident and make recommendations.

He described the incident as a normal misunderstanding between supporters of two camps which went violent.

Some of the items destroyed

According to him, only one student suffered injury on his finger and had since been treated and discharged.

He said the vetting process started on Saturday and ran into the early hours of Sunday when the electoral committee was rounding up with the vetting of presidential candidates for the SRC positions.

He explained that the stakes had always been high for the SRC President position, especially if the candidates were from the two most popular halls on the campus.

Dr Bekoe said calm had since been restored to the campus, with students going about their usual activities.

Katanga, Conti clashes

Considered the most fierce rivals on the KNUST campus, students of Katanga and Conti have often been caught in friendly feuds over which hall has the most following and control over student affairs at the university.

Some of these feuds had sometimes turned violent, with casualties recorded.

In March this year, a fight broke out between students of the two halls and a video recording of the incident went viral.

The cause of the fracas between the two halls was not known, but the incident attracted heavy police presence which restored calm on the campus.

There was no report of injury.

In 2016, two students were stabbed, while about 20 got injured following a clash between students of Katanga and Conti.

It was unclear what had sparked the dispute, but it was believed some Katanga students tried to disrupt an event some students of Conti were engaged in as part of activities to mark the latter’s hall week.