I used to get excited anytime I see the boys from the two big halls of KNUST; I mean Unity Hall (Conti) and University Hall (Katanga) displaying their prowess and adroitness in what they call “Moral”, “Charge” and “Procession”. They march through KNUST amidst singing, drumming, dancing and sometimes buttocks and balls exhibition in the moment of extreme craziness.
It’s really fascinating and we all watch them brimmed with glee. Have we ever been tempted to ask ourselves this question, what is the essence of all the noise and display of wanton insanity in an intellectual community? Writing this piece was a big challenge to me, but you know what, we have to call a spade a spade and not a hoe.
The fact is, some of the activities of Conti and Katanga are wholly nothing but a waste of time and disturbance of our minds. I have been trying to get the rationale behind the rivalry between Conti and Katanga and I have not been able to fish that rationale out because most rivalries in the world are either for power or resources. Which resource is Conti and Katanga fighting over?
If it’s power, I ask again, power to rule over who? I just don’t fathom why university students should be marching amidst dancing, drumming and gun fires every Friday in the name of what they call “tradition”. Humanity is waiting for something new other than blind imitation of the past. I was shocked to see some students from Katanga and Casford Hall of UCC walking naked in a huge crowd at the Old Skulls Re-union organized by Luv Fm. I just couldn’t believe it because the last time I saw a naked mad person was in 2005 at a village called Kramokrom in the Western Region.
Most of the mad people we see in our towns and cities cover their private parts to signal that even in the state of lunacy there is an iota of their brains which reminds them of shame and protecting their human dignity but a university student stripes himself naked walking at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in the name of championing the tradition of his hall. A hall which doesn’t belong to his father.
We are in the 21st century and students of Cambridge and Harvard are thinking deep to bring innovations and inventions. The difference between a KNUST student and that of Harvard is not about our location but our mindsets and attitude.
Of course Kofi Annan was once an Economics student of KNUST but he rose above the horizons and became a world leader. Conti, Katanga and other halls like the Commonwealth Hall (Vandals) must know that the world is changing every day and they must stop hanging themselves behind the cloak of outmoded traditions and move onto an intellectual horizon to solve the enormous problems of the world. What do you think will happen if a debate is organized between Conti and Katanga, or between Katanga and the Vandals on an issue of national interest? What will happen if Conti and Katanga organize a cleanup exercise to clean KNUST campus? Won’t KNUST look better?
I recall those days in Legon when the Vandals prevented Kofi Annan from using a pavement just because their Chief Vandal was going to walk on that same pavement to a graduation ceremony. It became a very big issue which gained international attention from the UN. Will Oxford students treat Kofi Annan in that manner?
The first president of Tanzanian, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere said, “Education is the key to success, but it must be the education that changes the heart and the mind”. We must allow ourselves so that education will unlock our self-esteem that we may stand shoulder to shoulder with God’s creation.
My fellow brothers from Conti and Katanga, you have betrayed Kwame Nkrumah because some of the things you do were not the reason for which he established this school and he might be angry in his grave with some of you. My greatest worry is that the CV of most of these guys who go around doing procession cannot occupy half of an A4 sheet. When Engineering students in Israel wear their helmet to work and generate electricity, our Engineering students in Katanga wear their helmet for procession. How will we have felt if WhatsApp was invented by a Continental or Facebook invented by a Katangee?
And those guys in Republic Hall and Queens Hall Annex who have made it their daily work by raining insults and passing funny comments on our beautiful ladies, what you should know is that being a villager is not about your geographical location but is about your attitude. Indeed Conti and Katanga must be born again; the value of a nation is to have young people with good heart, upbringing and sharp brains.
If the POWER of Conti and the CHARGE of Katanga is infused with intellectual challenge, am very certain that it will change the dark yesterday into a brighter tomorrow and lift us from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope in KNUST.
Long live Conti and Katanga. Long live KNUST.
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