Achimota School rules don’t supersede the 1992 Constitution – Sam George

Samuel Nartey George (NDC – Prampram MP) has reiterated the fact that school rules must be subservient to the letter and spirit of the 1992 Constitution which is the supreme law of the land.

“Mr Speaker, the Constitution in Article 17 (2) is clear that nobody shall be discriminated on any grounds. Why is he carrying dreadlocks? Is it a fashion statement or is as a result of a religious belief? Our understanding is that it is a result of a religious belief,” Sam George stated while contributing to a debate on the trending Rasta hair admission matter involving Achimota School.

“Are we then going to say that the rules and regulations of Achimota School supersede the 1992 constitution? We cannot accept this Mr Speaker.”

“It is this kind of discrimination and I call it discrimination because the same Achimota School has Caucasian white girls carrying long hair which is against the rules and regulations of Achimota school. So we need to ask ourselves ‘is it because this young man is a Ghanaian whose father or mother may not be ‘somebody’ in our society?

“Is that why he is being treated that way? While in that same school, you have foreign students, non-Ghanaians, Caucasians also carrying long hair? So where were Achimota’s rules and regulations when the foreign students were allowed to carry long hair?” he quizzed.

He went on: “Mr Speaker, the question we should ask ourselves is ‘are we more interested as a country about the knowledge we impart into young men and women who will form the next generation of leaders or are we interested in what they carry on their heads. Mr Speaker, is there any scientific proof to show carrying your hair low is correspondent to being a responsible citizen?

He further stated: “......listening to one of the students in question, it is shocking that any school would want to deprive such an intelligent young man of the opportunity to further his education”.

The MP concluded that the debate on the subject should be expanded to enable the nation to reconsider some of the “colonial thinking and mentality” imposed on Ghanaians in other sectors of the country.

“The Headmistress herself is wearing an artificial wig but we think that it is wrong for someone to carry dreadlocks. So, Mr Speaker, it must ignite a new and larger debate in this country. We are stuck in our colonial thinking and mentality that is why you still have respectfully, our judges of the supreme court and lawyers having to appear wearing horse wigs which are a relic of the colonial past,” he stated.