Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
The restriction placed on taxi drivers in the Kumasi metropolis from operating on the campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) since August this year has reduced the crime rate in the university community considerably.
Over the years, cases of armed robbery, sexual assault of female students, snatching of mobile phones and physical assault of students, lecturers and the university community had been regular, creating a state of panic among residents of the university.
As part of the measures to reduce the crime rate at the university and to instil sanity , the university authorities introduced an innovation that identified taxis that operated on the university campus.
Since the beginning of August when the authorities started implementing the innovation by embossing identification numbers on taxis that operated on the university campus, the KNUST had not only been selective on commercial vehicles that did business at the university, but had also ensured that such cars had the requisite documents that met their criterion in terms of road worthiness, insurance and signs to prove that they were maintained regularly.
That, according to the university authorities, was to ensure the safety of passengers.
Explaining the rational behind their measures, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, told the Daily Graphic that the initiative was to address the security concerns of members of the university community.
“I saw security as a major concern for students, lecturers, and all stakeholders who do business in diverse ways in the university and this needed immediate action for sanity to prevail”, he stressed.
Prof. Adarkwa said because the university shared common boundaries with about 19 communities in the Kumasi metropolis, it had numerous entry and exit points so members of the public and motorists, who had no business on campus entered through several outlets, creating much inconveniences to students, lecturers and the entire university community.
He said some of them indulged in criminal activities, creating a state of insecurity for the university community
He said it was to reduce the crime rate that his administration decided to restrict the entry of vehicles to the university campus.
He said as part of the measures “we prevented any vehicle from entering the university through the Bomso route, because we found out that about 70 per cent of vehicles which entered through that route had no business doing on campus”.
“The idea was that if we could reduce vehicular flow into the university, especially taxis, then we can control security well . This is because of the realisation that a lot of the criminal activities that were recorded on campus were committed by taxi drivers and their accomplices”.
He said prior to the arrangement some female students were abused by taxi drivers and others were abducted and molested after they had been robbed of their mobile phones and monies.
“Previously there were reported cases of robbery on a daily basis but now it has dropped significantly, indicating that we are on course to minimise the crime rate on campus”.
Professor Adarkwa said before the new measures were introduced they formed a committee comprising lecturers, students and other members of the university community “and they are monitoring the situation and improving upon them when necessary”.
“For now, we have about 70 embossed taxis operating on campus and 16 shuttle buses with the other hostels having their own buses that convey students to campus and when the need arises we shall increase the number, but that depends on the recommendations of the committee”, he noted.
He said “all the commercial drivers operating on campus have been properly trained to appreciate the ethics on campus, so they are living up to expectation.
He said security agents conducted regular patrols on campus at night to check armed robbers who used to attack the university community “ so there had been a substantial drop in armed robbery cases on campus of late, and commended them for their gesture.
Professor Adarkwa appealed to all stakeholders to be security conscious and co-operate with the authorities to create a serene atmosphere for effective teaching and learning at the university.
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