Sacked Owass headmaster to cough up GHC2,649,000

Two concerned old students of Opoku Ware School (OWASS), have moved to ensure that the Ghana Education Service (GES) compels the ousted headmaster of the school to refund over GHC2,649,000 that he (headmaster) fraudulently extorted from two year groups for supply of customised school suits, vests, blazers and track-suits.

The Dismissed Headmaster, Fedilis Matthew Oppong-Mensah, is said to have collected the money from students of two year groups for supply of customized school suits, vests, blazers and track-suits.

In a petition to the GES and copied to Parliament House, Office of the Chief Justice and the Flag Staff House, Mr. Andrew K. Appiah and Nana Poku Kyeretwie II, Aboasohene, the petitioners, accused the dismissed headmaster, Oppong-Mensah, alias FM, of charging the 2012/2013 and 2013/214 academic year batches respectively of GHC1,500 per student -as part of their school fees, which was meant for provision of school uniforms, including suits, vests, blazers and track suits, which hit were never supplied to the students.

According to the petitioners, the charge of GHC1,500 from a student population of 2,650 at an average annual enrolment of 883 amounted to GHC1,324,500 -whiles the two-year collection of GHC1,500 from parents, guardians and students worked out to a whopping GHC2,649,000.

The petitioners claim the concerned staff, parents and students of 2012/2013 and 2013/214 academic years contend that each student was charged GHC1,500 as part of their school fees for the supply and delivery of uniforms, as well as suits, vests, blazers and track suits, but the said uniforms were never supplied nor delivered to the students.

The concerned OWASS Old boys, who claim they were driven by a sense of patriotism in line with the dictates of the 1992 Constitution, bemoaned the alarming rate of corruption in Ghana and said the allegation of fraud, financial impropriety in private and public institutions, in whatever form and shape, should be duly examined at all times by relevant bodies to ensure that funds committed for private and public endeavors are judiciously utilized and administered.

The petitioners prayed that their petition would provoke the necessary action for the retrieval and refund of all monies relating to non-supply and delivery of the stipulated school uniforms.

They indicated that, within the boundaries of a three-year senior high school course program, as it currently prevails, all the students of the 2012/13 academic year have graduated without ever receiving either the uniforms nor a refund of their monies”, they stated in their petition .

They have, therefore, called on the GES, Parliament House and all concerned to swiftly expedite action on their petition and cause investigation into the allegation of deceit and fraud.

The embattled headmaster has told The Chronicle in a telephone interview that, he indeed collected monies from the students and that the items are in the school store.

He did not say exactly how much money he collected from each student.

Meanwhile, the dismissed headmaster has directed parents to go to the school store to collect the said items.