A Democracy and Development Fellow in Public Health at CDD-Ghana, Kwame Sarpong Asiedu, has questioned the circumstances under which the headmaster at the centre of the Obuasi Senior High Technical School sexual abuse allegations was appointed, amid claims of earlier misconduct.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, 2st1 October, he said allegations relating to the headmaster’s previous role as an assistant headmaster raised serious questions about safeguarding and oversight within the Ghana Education Service (GES).
“If that was known, under what circumstances did this person get to be a headmaster?” he asked.
The headmaster, Zakaria Abdulai was accused of sexual misconduct when he was an assistant headmaster in other school before becoming a headmaster in Obuasi SHTS.
Mr Sarpong Asiedu argued that any investigation should examine whether earlier allegations were brought to the attention of education authorities and how they were handled before the appointment.
He questioned whether giving greater authority to someone facing unresolved allegations could expose students to further harm.
His comments came during a discussion on the ongoing Obuasi SHTS controversy and the GES’s response, including asking education directors to step aside and establishing another committee to investigate the sexual abuse allegations.
Mr Sarpong Asiedu said the matter must be considered through the principles of duty of care and the responsibility school authorities assume when parents entrust children to them.
He explained that education professionals are expected to safeguard students’ health, safety, dignity and welfare, including protecting them from sexual abuse.
“That is, as a parent, if I bring my child to you to take care of them in a boarding house, I am devolving my responsibility as a parent to you, so you are acting in my stead,” he said.
He stressed that these responsibilities extended beyond the headmaster to officials responsible for supervising the school and responding to complaints.
According to him, investigators must establish whether those officials failed to protect staff tasked with safeguarding students or adequately address concerns brought before them.
“Therefore, it is understandable that they will be asked to step aside because their complicity has to be investigated as well. Whether it was knowingly or unknowingly, it has to be investigated,” he said.
Mr Sarpong Asiedu also expressed concern about what he described as a wider culture of protectionism surrounding people in authority who face sexual misconduct allegations.
“So, you can see that this cloak of protectionism is wider both in the school and extra the school,” he said.
Questioning whether the allegations would have received the same attention without the students’ protest, he called for scrutiny of the entire chain of responsibility.
“And let’s ask ourselves, if that revolt hadn’t happened by the students, would we have been having this conversation?” he asked.