A former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof Akilagpa Sawyer says one of his biggest achievements is being able to manage the relationship between the government and the University of Ghana.

According to him, students relied heavily on government support, enjoying free education, free meals and everything else.

The academic scholar was head of the university between 1985 and 1992.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Sages, he noted that as times changed, students began to feel deprived, leading to various complaints.

“So the students had all manner of complaints against the government. There were also workers' problems with the government as well, over pay. Part of the job of the vice-chancellor is to protect the university and defend it against everybody including government, not easy. And against the military government which was used to doing things its own way. It was very tricky.”

“I had contacts, enemies and friends in government and because I had the student’s confidence, I was able to help to manage the very rough times until 1998 when government got so angry,” he said.

According to the professor, the government announced through the media that the university should be closed down.

He stated that security forces were deployed to remove students from campus.

“That morning we had been to the PNDC because of the problems with the students, explaining to government that sometimes the students demonstrate on campus, and we let them do it. They break for lunch and go home. “

“So on our return to campus, we saw this situation. We had to move immediately because it was very clear that, no matter how right you are, when students and police clash, there is a problem. So we had to do what we had to do to prevent the clash.”  

According to him, with the help of the commander of the police unit on campus, they were able to prevent a clash between the students and the police.

“Had we not managed the problem, riot happens, police shoot somebody and so on,” he said.