“I don’t have anyone of notable stature to appeal to in this country. So, because I am not rich, does it mean anyone can trample on my freedoms?” A victim’s father; Inside the Dreaded Headmaster’s Bangalow
The happenings at the Obuasi Senior High Technical School by the headmaster, Mr Abdulai Zachaia in the investigative piece Inside the dreaded Headmaster’s Bangalow a Hotline Documentary by by Manasseh Awuni Azuri if proven to be true is an outrage!
How can parents, after the burden of fending and funding for their children in school, be saddled with the stress of worrying about their welfare there?
The Minister of Education/Ghana Education Service, please can you respond to this! The words of a father of one of the victims, who is still awaiting justice for his child, is a shame to the ruling government; and the President, must take a personal interest, as a parent and president, for whatever needs to be done to be done, to ensure that no girl is abused while he is president, and way after his tenure.
Mr Abdulai Zacharia is alleged to have abused about a dozen girls in his keep as headmaster, with all teachers in the school not knowing how to deal with it, and the authorities in Obuasi advising the predator to keep his activities under wrap, while mediating and impressing upon teachers who knew about this matter to keep quiet or actively encouraging a female teacher in the know with money to keep quiet.
Issues
Several issues struck me in the documentary. One was the statement by Kumasi Mayor, Richard Ofori Agyeman Boadi alias King Zuba that in his interaction with the headmaster, he realised he had a “weakness for women”. What sort of excuse is that?
The predator had no such disease called a “weakness for women”. That term is a ruse for evil-minded men who prey on girls, believing that their social positions or political affiliations makes them not accountable for their criminal actions! And it is a cover up by other men!
If, indeed, there is such a thing as “weakness for women”, why not marry? Why not transact with a sex worker, pay and get the fulfilment of sexual desires?
Flowing from that are the behaviours/attitudes of all the men and opinion leaders, who interacted with the headmaster, got to know from him that he had done what he had been accused of and who did not report the matter, but sought to bury the alleged crime.
Why did they not report the matter? Is it because they all are under the belief that they suffer from the same “weakness for women”? Perhaps, it might be because men are still under the mistaken belief that forcing sex on a woman is not criminal.
We nomalise sexual abuse like the male teacher in the documentary, who allegedly laughed when the matter was reported to him.
Our informal social interactions are replete with snide remarks about how a woman must be forced for sex; how some women themselves say that they do not enjoy sex unless they are beaten; and how even in a sexual interaction between a couple, the woman initially feigns disinterest until she is finally overpowered, then concedes. These statements are from unlearned men who are stuck with mechanical sex and cannot go beyond that to enlighten themselves on the subject area for their own good!
For the female teachers, the herculean task of reporting a sexual misconduct, with all the processes and investigations (bureaucracy around sexual misconduct in institutions) made them cowards enough to stay quiet, as one of them stated, “case no so”.
The police Inspector, who tried to facilitate the cover up of a criminal case of reported rape, by inviting the parent into a meeting with the predator, must be questioned, and brought to book by the IGP. Additionally, rape allegations reported in police stations across Ghana must be treated as priority and not negotiated!
Unbelievable
It is unbelievable too the allegation that the Kumasi Mayor, gave Madam Stephanie Adwoa Yeboah some money after a meeting at a hotel, where this matter was discussed.
Madam Adwoa Yeboah herself rationalises this as normal, in a footage of the documentary that shows her in an interview with Aseda 92.3 FM responding to the issue. According to her, the Kumasi Mayor gave her money for fuel, “for her trouble in coming over”. What was the “trouble” in getting to the president’s representative of the area to discuss a matter relating to one’s work as a teacher and guardian of students? Where did the money come from? Is he paid that much so that he can dispense with a GH¢1000 anytime he holds a meeting over a governance challenge?
This is the type of overt corruption being rationalised all over, with the pretext that even pastors are catered for after a visit anywhere! The fact that pastors are given anything anywhere is on the assumption that they engage in work not directly paid for. Thus, whatever is given is to facilitate their time and movement.
What bothered me most was the moderator at the 92.3 FM station, a broadcaster, who kept intoning, “ƐyƐ normal, ƐyƐ normal”. No, that is not normal and must be called out for what it is.
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