Less than 36 hours ago, on the 3rd of July, 2021, the SRC Vetting, the most awaited event on campus, took place. It was scheduled to begin at nine in the morning at the Great Hall but due to a number of reasons began around eleven in the morning. All around, there were different students from different sides present in the Great Hall ready to witness the vetting of the aspirants running for different portfolios. Some students were draped in banners of the preferred aspirant while others cheered them on.
The SRC vetting began with the Women’s Commissioner Portfolio which had two aspirants, then continued with the Financial Secretary portfolio. After these two portfolios, there was a break which took about roughly thirty to forty minutes after which the program continued with the General Secretary portfolio. The aspirants had been dissected, examined and sewn up by the panel. At this point in time, the Great Hall was filled to the brim with students watching and waiting for the big finale of the SRC vetting. The aspirants running for the General Secretary portfolio were vetted and dismissed. Afterwards, the real game began.
Some students, who called themselves ‘Friends of Abuah’ came in with cries and shouts of encouragement to show their approval of Michael Abuah. Shortly after their display, current and former residents of Unity Hall, popularly known as ‘Conti’, entered the Hall in their numbers with war songs on their lips. Dressed in their hall colours, they took control of the stable atmosphere and in the blink of an eye turned the Hall upside down. It took a long time for the security and Electoral Commission to get them under control before the vetting of the final portfolio, the President portfolio, began.
The first to be vetted was Mr. Prince Ackah and his vice and afterwards Mr. Kevin Abban with Mr. Mohammed Ali as his vice where both were met with mind racking questions from the panel. The next team was Mr. Frank Owusu and his vice Mr. Duah Ahenkorah Louis. Around this time, which was around ten pm, the Hall was filled and surrounded by students from all angles either listening or cheering. After Mr. Owusu left, the vetting was brought to a standstill as confusion was created among the crowd. It started with the singing of ‘morale’ songs from the Unity Hall affiliates which was interrupted by the affiliates of University Hall, affectionately known as ‘Kantanga’. A scuffle began within the crowd because there was fear of Mr. Michael Abuah arriving on stage and being attacked. This was due to the fact that the lead manager of Mr. Abuah’s campaign had been stabbed recently and to avoid further problems had resulted in the creation of complete confusion.
After a long while, the crowd was brought under control and the vetting continued with the fourth team which comprised of Mr. Michael Abuah and Mr. Reginald Amo as his vice. Unfortunately, matters turned worse when Mr. Jude Sabutey and his vice were about to be brought before the panel. It started out as a rally which turned into a competition between the affiliates of the Unity Hall and University Hall as both parties wanted to prove to the other who is better until someone from one party threw a bottle of urine at the other party. As the bottle sailed through the air at its target, so did the last iota of peace go out the window. The entire hall was thrown into pandemonium as a war began between the two halls. This resulted in a division within and outside the Great Hall as the vetting turned bloody and dangerous. From the exchange of blows to the throwing of chairs and banners, people were seriously injured and school property vandalized. The battle was between the Unity and University Halls and no one was ready to give up. There was total unrest and therefore the vetting was discontinued and students were asked to depart from the hall as the vetting had taken a completely wrong turn into pit of discord and took a long period of time and was eating into the early hours of the morning.
The events which took place during the vetting have taken everyone by surprise as things which have never happened before ensued. In every little corner of the land of KNUST, this story resides. The SRC vetting 2021 has become the limelight of the campus for the week and possibly many weeks to come.
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