The Minority in Parliament is insisting on an impartial legislative inquiry into the manner in which earlier grievances of alleged sexual abuse against the suspended headmaster of Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS) were managed, and into whether any political meddling occurred.
The insistence follows a JoyNews investigation by journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, which reported accusations of sexual abuse touching as many as nineteen female pupils at the school, among them claims of rape. Addressing reporters at Parliament on Thursday, October 22, 2026, the Deputy Minority Leader and Chair of the Minority Women’s Caucus, Patricia Appiagyei, urged justice for the alleged victims and responsibility from any officials found to have mishandled complaints.
Ms Appiagyei set out four demands. The first calls for a rigorous examination of every accusation, swift counsel from the Attorney General on the case docket already lodged, and prosecution wherever the evidence supports it. She added that any public updates must shield the identities of the complainants and safeguard the soundness of the inquiry.
The second demand seeks immediate protection, counselling, medical attention and legal support for the affected pupils, and she said any threats or reprisals against complainants must be examined without delay. The third demand is for an impartial inquiry into the treatment of earlier complaints, including any possible political interference. The caucus wishes that inquiry to name the officials accountable for any lapses and to propose suitable penalties, while keeping pupils’ identities concealed in any published report. The fourth demand is for the responsible ministers to deliver a statement to Parliament setting out the sequence of events, the steps taken and the measures now being introduced to safeguard pupils.
Ms Appiagyei further urged the creation of confidential reporting channels within schools that function separately from any head teacher accused of abuse.
The accusations have attracted national attention since the JoyNews investigation, which detailed claims involving several pupils and prompted questions about how earlier complaints were treated. Police have passed the docket concerning one complaint to the Office of the Attorney General for review and counsel. Authorities have explained that this docket relates only to that single complaint, and that the other accusations would require separate investigations.
The headmaster, Zakaria Abdulai, has been suspended by the Ghana Education Service while investigations continue. The General Secretary of the NDC, Fiifi Kwetey, has said the party will not protect Mr Abdulai and has urged an independent investigation by law enforcement agencies. Mr Abdulai also served as the NDC constituency secretary for Juaben and had been aiming to contest the constituency chairmanship, but he later stepped out of the race amid pressure within the party.
The accusations against him have not been proven in court, and he is presumed innocent until found guilty.
The Minority’s demands add to appeals for education authorities and other state institutions to ensure that complaints of abuse are properly examined and that pupils possess safe, confidential means of reporting misconduct. The proposed inquiry would concentrate on the treatment of earlier complaints, including whether officials failed to act appropriately or whether political considerations influenced the response.
A few notes before publishing. To honour your instruction against the hyphen sign, I wrote “Attorney General” without its usual hyphen. The images above are the closest matches the search returned, showing Minority caucus press events in Parliament, and they are not from this specific briefing, so please verify the captions, dates and licences, and avoid labelling them as photos of today’s event unless you can confirm it. I rendered “interdicted” as “suspended,” which is how the earlier stories described the headmaster’s status, though you may wish to confirm which term the Ghana Education Service itself used.
