Some staff at the Cape Coast Polytechnic (C-Poly) on Tuesday staged a massive demonstration against the Council Chairman of the Polytechnic, Dr Ato Cobbinah for allegedly causing political tension on the campus. According to .the staff, Dr Cobbinah has been emotionally harassing members of staff believed to be New Patriotic Party (NPP) members, thereby causing political and corporate tension on campus. They accused the council chairman of causing public disaffection of staff and their families towards the ruling party and creating division among the staff. The irate staff also alleged that Dr Cobbinah has placed a ban on the teaching allowance of staff and the conditions of service of POTAG members and shows disrespect for management by ordering staff to respond to him directly instead of management. According to the staff made up of Tertiary Education Workers Union (TEWU) and Polytechnic Administrators Association of Ghana (PAAG), they were not ready to sit down for Dr Cobbinah to meddle in the affairs of the administration of the polytechnic as well as create division among staff of the institution. . When the press got to the scene, the staff dressed in red to signify their displeasure about the behavior of the council wielded placards some of which read "we need peace", "council chairman; there was peace when you assumed office so try to maintain that." Speaking to the press during the demonstration, the spokesperson for TEWU, Mr John Ayarik said the conduct of the council chairman has created tension at the school and that letters have been circulated to the Member of Parliament Cape Coast, Mr Barton Oduro who is also the deputy attomey general and minister of justice as well as the ministry of education to intervene. He said although the MP and the ministry have been petitioned, they have not heard from them and warned that if by the end of next week they do not hear anything, the whole polytechnic staff will go on demonstration. He added that all they needed was for peace to prevail, adding that it was in that direction that a sub-committee has been established to look into the issue and find lasting solutions to the whole fiasco. The spokesperson for the PAAG, Mr Peter Onumah expressed concern about the way the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have been constantly calling the rector of the institute, Prof Robert Nkum for questioning on the issue, a situation which according to him was affecting the management of the school since he is often not around to put things in order. The rector of the school in reaction to the development also expressed worry about the way the BNI and the SFO have been inviting him for questioning on the issue, saying it was affecting the running of the polytechnic. He claimed some people have also been speculating falsehood about him because he was employed during the NPP regime. He noted that he applied for the position through the normal procedure and was considered the best for the job. According to him, he saw the advert in the newspaper and applied and implored those after his position to wait until his four year tenure of office is over. "I did not get the position through any political means and when the time comes, I will leave since I was given four years to work" he said. Meanwhile, the deputy minister of education, Dr Joseph Samuel Annan, has petitioned the polytechnic to suspend interviews and appointments for both teaching and non-teaching positions following a report the council chairman made to the ministry. Source: Today Newspaper