The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Ernest Kofi Davis, will be expected to appear before a parliamentary committee to answer questions about the Service’s handling of sexual abuse allegations at Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS), the MP for Salaga South, Zuwera Mohammed Ibrahimah, has said.
The MP said the Service must explain why it had not provided clear information about the findings of its investigation and the action it intends to take beyond suspending the headteacher accused of abusing students.
Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Monday, October 19, she criticised what she described as the GES’s silence on the matter, despite reportedly receiving the investigation report weeks before JoyNews published its findings.
“The GES will appear before the parliamentary committee, and the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service will appear to come and explain the attitude,” she said.
She questioned the Service’s response to the allegations, arguing that earlier intervention could have prevented the situation from escalating.
“ The attitude of the GES is scarier than what has happened,” she said.
The MP also questioned whether the Service had taken adequate steps to protect students and ensure accountability, insisting that education officials had questions to answer over their handling of the complaints.
She said the allegations had been brought to the attention of authorities more than a year ago, yet the matter had not been adequately resolved.
According to her, a petition from one of the girls was presented to the municipal assembly around the time the current Municipal Chief Executive assumed office, raising concerns about why the complaints had not prompted decisive action earlier.
She also questioned the outcome of interventions by local government officials, including the Kumasi mayor, saying the circumstances surrounding their engagement with the headteacher needed to be examined.
The MP said the proposed parliamentary inquiry would provide an opportunity for relevant stakeholders to explain their roles and help establish why the allegations were not addressed earlier.
Her comments follow a JoyNews investigative documentary by Manasseh Azure Awuni detailing allegations of sexual abuse involving students at the school and raising questions about the handling of complaints by school authorities and other stakeholders.