Ideal College students injured in clash with land guards, police

The management of Ideal College says 23 of its students have been left injured after they were manhandled by land guards and police, supposedly coming from the counter-terrorism unit of the Ghana Police Service.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the school, Naphtali Kyei Baffour, three of the students are in critical condition while the remaining 20 sustained minor injuries.

“Unfortunately, we have three of them [students] who have been severely injured and about 20 with minor injuries. Most of the female students have been gripped with fear. We’ve spoken to them to calm them down. Everything is under control at the moment,” he said.

Narrating the circumstances that led to the melee, he said some land guards in the company of uniformed officers besieged a portion of the school’s land where an assembly hall and hostel were being put up and attempted to pull down the substructure with a bulldozer without giving any reason.

“They were land guards in the company of men in uniform who claim to come from the counter-terrorism unit. They came in a vehicle registered GV… We have a part of the land where we are trying to put up an assembly hall and some hostels. They wanted to demolish where we have raised the foundation for the assembly hall. We have the permission from the assembly for the construction,” he said.

According to him, some land guards in February 2022 indicated that a man known as Dzato sent them to demolish any property on the land because, he claims, the land belongs to the government.

“We have not officially received anything from the school. But in February 2022, we saw some people on the land and when we asked them they say a certain Dzato says it is a government property, so they want to demolish it,” Kyei Baffour said.

He said the school is preparing a petition that will be presented to the Inspector General of Police for action.

—citinewsroom