By Saio Marrah
Chaos broke out at the campuses of the University of Sierra Leone days ahead of the 2021 graduation ceremony as prospective grandaunts clamor to ensure that their names were published for graduation and to get their necessary regalia leading a major riot at one of the constituent colleges of the university, the Institute of Public Administration and Management IPAM on Monday 12th April 2021. The Education Minister of the Students Union government at the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM), Osman Mansaray, has said the publication of a “disputed” list of students for convocation and the distribution of materials for such, lead to the riot that took place at the institution’s campus. Speaking to Politico at the IPAM campus Mansaray said the riot was as a result of the few names of students that were published for the convocation ceremony for the Business Administration department. He said they have over 100 students at honours class but that only 27 names were published. For General degree he claimed for the over 600 students, only 101 names were published which forced the affected students to question why the omission of their names.
He said the aggrieved students started throwing sachets of water as the convocation materials were being distributed to their colleagues.
Mansaray also explained that the administration claimed some students have references which they are yet to clear as well as arrears in fees. A student who wished not to be named said the Police arrested one of their tutors and at least two of their colleagues.
Another student said even though most of his colleagues have completed the verification process for both financial obligations and grades yet their names were not shortlisted for the convocation.
The Director of Media University of Sierra Leone Dr. Tonya Musa said they as a university administration condemned the riotous conduct of the students at IPAM and stated that the Police were investigating the matter.
He said huge damage was done to the university’s properties. He stated that students have opportunities to seek redress other than resorting to riotous conduct and that at the end of the police investigation whoever was found guilty will face the law.
He also informed politico that they have what they call audit verification that looks into whether a student has fulfilled their financial obligation.
“Apart from that, we have to check the academic record of the student in terms of references to ensure that the student has completed all requirements for him or her to graduate,” he said.
He said at the moment, there are students that have issues with references, late submission of dissertations and thesis and even some student are yet to complete their financial obligations and that even though some have completed their financial obligations they did so very late.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (14/04/21)
