Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni says the Ghana Education Service (GES) failed the girls of Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS), as the number of alleged victims in the school has risen to 19 and could grow further. He made the submission while discussing his investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by the school’s headmaster.
Mr. Awuni says complaints travelled from the school to the municipality, the region and beyond without any report to the police and warns that over-politicizing the matter lets culprits escape accountability.
Mr Awuni said 16 names had emerged from the school the previous day alone, bringing the total to 19. Sources at the school told him more names are likely to surface, since some victims have not reported at all.
“The problem is actually at the doorstep of the Ghana Education Service, if you receive reports from five girls and take no action, you have failed in your duty.”
Investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni
The journalist said it was his second visit to Obuasi SHTS. His first, in 2018, followed allegations of sexual assault against a senior house master, who was subsequently dismissed.
After returning from studies abroad, he received a message from someone in the school who said the abuse had not stopped and had become worse. This time, the source said, the alleged culprit was the headmaster, the highest-ranking official in the school, which made reporting extremely difficult.
Second Visit to the School
Teachers who might have spoken out feared victimisation. Some had already escalated a case to the Municipal Directorate of Education without result.
According to Mr Awuni, the day the documentary aired and the Minister for Education directed the suspension of the headmaster, he received a call from an old student of the school based in the United States.
The caller said the old students’ association had spent the past year petitioning the Chiefs, the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), the Police and other stakeholders, all without success. The petitions feature in the documentary.
For that reason, Mr Awuni said, the revelations were not news to residents of Obuasi. The real news, he stated, was that the plight of the girls was finally receiving a listening ear.
Delays at every level
Mr Awuni said what hurt him most was how the GES handled the matter. He cited the case of a girl who was allegedly raped on a Saturday. She reportedly told her house prefect she did not trust the school to act, and the prefect escalated the matter to the senior house mistress on Sunday.
The senior house mistress told him it was her duty to report to the Assistant Headmaster (Domestic). She did not do so that day. On Monday, she saw him locking his office and heading to a meeting, and the school was preoccupied with officials expected from Kumasi. She reported only on Tuesday, around 6:00 pm.
The delays began much earlier, he said. As far back as March 2026, five girls went to the Municipal Director of Education, Mr George Alfred Kumsin, and three of them presented written reports alleging sexual abuse by the headmaster. Mr Awuni said the director confirmed this to him in person.
No GES investigation followed. In June, further allegations arose, and in July the headmaster allegedly raped another girl.
Mr Awuni noted that when violence erupted at the school, two teachers alleged to have incited it were arrested, detained and taken to court within 24 hours. By contrast, he said, the allegations against the headmaster over a long period went unaddressed. A regional committee that was later set up reportedly recommended that the headmaster simply be transferred.
He added that nobody reported the alleged rape to the police. The girl’s father travelled from his village more than a week after the incident and, to get his daughter out, told school authorities she had a spiritual problem and needed a herbalist. He instead took her to the police station.
Mr Awuni stressed that early reporting is critical, since it allows evidence to be preserved. Delay, he said, works in favour of perpetrators.
Politics and accountability
Responding to political commentary on the case, Mr Awuni said the Ministry of Education was unaware of the allegations until the facts were put before the Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, who directed action immediately. He said the timing of the documentary trailer and the Minister’s letter shows the Minister acted without delay.
Investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni
“The failure spans every level of the system, from the school to the municipality, the region and the national level. Over-politicising the matter only allows those responsible to escape accountability.”
He also noted that the Kumasi Mayor, King Zuba, who features in the documentary, said such conduct, if established, would be a disgrace to the party.
Mr Awuni cautioned that over-politicising the matter lets people get away with serious wrongdoing. The failure, he said, spans every level of the system, from the school to the municipality, the region and the national level.
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