Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) President Albert Kwabena Dwumfour has called on Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu to address concerns about accountability in the education sector after incidents at schools in Obuasi and Techiman.
Mr Dwumfour made the appeal as part of activities marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. He was speaking at the announcement of nominees for the GJA Awards at the Ghana International Press Centre in Accra on Monday, November 2.
He pointed to the controversy involving Obuasi Senior High Technical School and the reported assault of a student at Techiman Senior High School as cases that required urgent attention.
“The alleged sexual abuse of the SHS female student by the interdicted headmaster is deeply troubling. The GJA finds these allegations very shocking and calls for swift investigation into the matter by the relevant investigative agencies,” he said.
The GJA president said the action taken against the alleged offender was insufficient and urged the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Education Ministry and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to pursue the matter further.
“We understand that Zakaria Abdulai, the alleged culprit, has been interdicted and has also resigned and abandoned his political journey. But that is not enough. We can’t just sit back and say that because he has resigned his position as the secretary or constituency secretary, that is all, that is enough. NDC is a democratic institution and they have a code of ethics or disciplinary code. They should invoke it immediately to sanction this culprit,” he said.
Zakaria Abdulai is alleged to have been involved in the Obuasi case. Mr Dwumfour said his interdiction, resignation and decision to abandon his political journey should not bring the matter to an end.
He also condemned the violent assault of a 17-year-old student by two teachers at Techiman Senior High School and called on Mr Iddrisu to ensure the incident was properly addressed.
“What kind of impunity is happening in our education sector? We condemn this impunity in no uncertain terms and want to call on the Education Minister, the respected Honourable Haruna Iddrisu, to sit up. This cannot happen under his watch. We are confident that he can bring calm, serenity and discipline into our educational system,” he said.
The GJA said it was awaiting the outcome of the investigation and would continue to monitor the case closely. It added that its advocacy on the issue would continue because representing marginalised people was part of its constitutional mandate.
