Calm Returns to Achimota JSS

Calm has finally returned to the disputed Achimota Preparatory and JSS School following two weeks of intensive tussle between the recently appointed Interim Management Board (IMB) on one hand and Ms. Rose Amusah, the dismissed headmistress on the other, over the latter's refusal to handover the school following allegations of financial misappropriation levelled against her.

Ms. Amusah was alleged to have misappropriated about ?78 million over the period beginning from January 2001 to August the same year.

She was said to have spent ?28 million on legal fees when in effect the school had no legal obligations, ?17 million on consultancy fees and ?33 million on painting of the school block.

Ms. Amusah who became the possible choice of the then Interim Management Committee (IMC) and the Concerned Parents that ousted Nana Wood and Company over similar allegations in 2000 was said to have connived with one Mr. Owusu who was not a board member to get rid of the IMC chairman, Mr. Appiah Kumi, and others from the board.

She was also alleged to have sacked about 40 teachers within a short period at a time when the JSS-3 pupils were preparing for their BECE examination without recruiting alternative teachers.

Speaking in an interview with the Chronicle in the presence of other IMB members, Mr. E O. K. Oddoye said the trouble started at the embattled school on February 17, this year, when the dismissed headmistress finally convened a Parent/Teacher Association (PTA) meeting after one year of making excuses and made accusations against some of the board members.

The board members in return refuted the allegations and also accused her of misconduct.

The PTA which is the sole owner of the school was founded in 1957 after its founding fathers had left the scene; it then appointed a committee to investigate developments unfolding in the school.

The committee, which was then given four weeks to carry out its investigations came back within three weeks and informed parents that the headmistress and certain members of the board were preventing them from conducting their investigations.

According to Oddoye, this infuriated the parents who resolved to dissolve the board and suspend the headmistress indefinitely to enable the committee carry out its mandate.

It then appointed a new Interim Board to manage the school with Mr. J. B. Achindiba as its chairman.

He said it was then agreed by the PTA that if the committee's report found out that there were grounds for prosecution then it would have gone ahead but if not then the headmistress exonerated and retained.

But he further told the Chronicle that things became rather controversial when an attempt by the IMB to take over the headmistress' office was met with a doggy game from her.

She was said to have locked up the office and teachers were not even able to get access to the continuous assessment form for the JSS pupils, which were lodged in the office.

The IMB to this effect wrote a letter to the Examination Unit of the Ghana Education Service.

He explained that the IMB had to go to the extent of involving the District and Regional Police Commanders and copied the letters to the Inspector General of Police and the Minister for the Interior until last Sunday when the PTA took the decision to forcibly take over the school as in the case of Nana Wood and Co.

This attempt made the headmistress to succumb and allow a peaceful transition.

Mr. George Tetteh was later appointed the acting headmaster. Also present during the interview was Mr. Leonard Lartey Doe-Lawson, a parent.

However, efforts by Chronicle to speak to the dismissed headmistress proved futile as she sped off immediately after handing over in the company of some senior officers of the Achimota District Police Station.