Sawla sexual assault: We will support you - District Heath Directorate to victim

Correspondence from Savanna Region:

The District Health Director of Sawla-Tuna-Kalba in the Savanna Region, Mr. Zakaria Abdul Kasim, on behalf of the Directorate has pledged to support Miss Doreen Smith in her quest to seek justice.

Miss Doreen Smith over the week was reported to have been sexually harassed by the District Health Insurance Authority(NHIS) Director, Mr. Mahama Sakara.

In an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb, Mr. Kasim narrated, "On the 9th of July, Miss Doreen Smith reported to the directorate that she was sexually assaulted by, Mr. Mahama Sakara. So an emergency management meeting was conveyed for us to take a decision on how to handle the issue.

The lady was invited to give an account of the issue, then she told us that she has a recording of all that transpired during the process, then she was asked to play for us hear and she did.

Then management asked her what she wants and she said she wanted to make it a police case, then we gave her the green light to make the report whiles we see how we can support her.

Later on the 15 of July, 2020 which was on Wednesday, the police brought us a letter, written to us officially that the lady has reported the case to them for investigations."

Mr. Kasim noted that since it is the responsibility of the directorate to ensure that its members are safe, he pledged to support the lady in spirit and will do anything under the powers of the directorate legally to support her.

“If we don't support her, I don't think somebody will do and if we don't do that, then our existence as management and also as a manager is of no use." He added.

Mr. Kasim, hinted that the Union of Professional Nurses & Midwifery, Ghana(UPNMG) which the lady is a member too, is also prepared to offer Miss Smith a lawyer to advance the case to court.

He also made it clear that, the Directorate could have joined the case for unlawful entry into the health facility because the facility belongs to Ghana Health Service, and making an official visit to the place without seeking the directorate consent was unlawful.

Adding that, Mr. Sakara's visit to the CHIP compound was unlawful, because he never seek permission from them before going there and they could have taken him on for disrupting a public officer from doing his duty but they are not interested in that, what they are interested in now is the criminal aspect of it.

He, however, emphasized that, “nobody has the right to enter any health facility officially without first seeking the approval of the Health Directorate."

Meanwhile, all effort made to get Mr. Sakara respond to the allegations labelled against him has proven futile.