Pressure is mounting on a second complainant in the alleged sexual abuse case involving the headmaster of Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS), Zakaria Abdulai, to withdraw her complaint, as police sources confirm that the first of two former rape complainants has withdrawn her case.
The development has renewed concerns about the protection of the students involved in the case and whether they can pursue their complaints without intimidation or pressure to settle the matter outside court.
Police sources at Bekwai confirmed to JoyNews that one of the two former complainants had withdrawn her complaint. The second complainant has reportedly said she is also facing pressure to abandon her case.
The father of the second complainant had earlier alleged that a traditional ruler in the Obuasi area intervened and asked the family to settle the matter amicably.
The claims have brought renewed attention to the role of community leaders and the need to ensure that complaints involving alleged sexual offences against students are handled through the appropriate legal and child-protection procedures.
The Bekwai chief, Nana Yaw Anning II, confirmed receiving a delegation that approached him in August over the controversy involving the headmaster.
He said four people visited him at home and explained that they wanted to discuss the case involving a student at Obuasi SHTS.
“In August, while I was at home, I received a visit from four individuals, one of whom was my subject. They explained that their visit concerned a student at Obuasi Senior High Technical School. They said the headmaster’s actions had brought disgrace to the school,” he said.
Nana Anning said he told the visitors that the matter was already under investigation and that he would give their appeal further consideration.
“I told them that since the matter was already under investigation and they had come to plead on the matter, I would give it further consideration. They agreed and left. However, before leaving, they gave us 200 cedis to buy schnapps,” he said.
The chief’s account confirms that a delegation approached him about the matter, but it does not, on its own, establish that he pressured the complainant or her family to withdraw a complaint.
The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, said her ministry was working with the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Health Service to ensure that the appropriate procedures were followed in handling the students’ cases.
“Our intervention is to go back to correct some of those things, and as to pressure being mounted on the girls not to report, I will give you information on that when we find the data speaking to that,” she said.
Dr Lartey said the ministry was coordinating with the relevant agencies to ensure that the students received appropriate screening and support, with the consent of their parents or guardians where required.
“But what I can tell you is that some of the protocols that needed to be followed, the ministry is working, especially with DOVVSU and the Ghana Health Service to ensure that they go back to, you know, report appropriately, get to follow the health protocols to ensure screening, get the consent of parents and guardians, so that we’ll be able to get the right protocols followed to ensure that the girls are safe,” she said.