Obuasi SHTS Scandal: Opoku Mensah questions minister's inaction

Former Education Ministry spokesperson Yaw Opoku Mensah has accused the Ashanti Regional Minister Dr Frank Amoakohene of failing to act on the alleged sexual abuse scandal at Obuasi Senior High Technical School, claiming the minister did not even brief the sector minister despite reports of violence and staff transfers. He said established administrative practice required regional ministers to brief the Education Minister promptly when serious incidents occurred at senior high schools, allowing authorities to coordinate a response and initiate investigations. “The regional minister never got a wind of this particular issue. And we look on for the Regional Minister to be in office,” Mensah said on The Forum, a current affairs programme on Asaase Radio on Saturday, 24 October, citing the school’s old students petition to the Education Minister, the Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Ashanti Regional Minister and the Ghana Police Service on 27 July, warning about developments at the school. “Per our experience when we’re in office, anything that drops into any senior high school in this country straight away the regional minister engages the sector minister and gives a briefing on what the regional security council seeks to do into that matter. Straight away whatever issue is stepped out at that end. Before even the director general of the Ghana Education Service comes in to do a thorough investigation using our code of conduct,” he told the host Wilberforce Asare. Mensah questioned why the alleged failure to act persisted despite reports of a violent incident at the school involving police, destruction of property and assaults on the headmaster and some staff members, followed by the transfer of more than 30 staff. He alleged that political considerations had influenced the handling of the incident because the headmaster at the centre of the allegations was a prominent party member and executive. “What we know the individual at the center of all this issue is the strong party member and executive of the party. So therefore we need to sacrifice the interest of that institution for that individual’s benefit and that is what has played out in this whole issue,” he alleged. The school, known as O’ SEC TEC, has been at the centre of allegations of sexual abuse involving its headmaster, Zakaria Abdulai. The allegations have prompted investigations and his eventual interdiction but remain subject to investigation. Mensah also accused the Obuasi municipal authorities of failing to respond adequately to complaints about the school. He cited comments by the Municipal Chief Executive that complaints had been brought to her office but alleged that she merely referred the matter to the Municipal Director of Education, who failed to escalate it to his superiors. “The municipal chief executive who in the video said that couple of complaints came to her office and therefore she also never acted or even involved the police or whoever into the matter but when it comes to her attention the only thing that she does is to direct it to the municipal director of education who also never acted on that issue or reporting it to his superior. That never happened,” he alleged. Mensah said both officials had been copied in a letter dated 27 July 2026, from the school’s old students raising concerns about developments at the institution. “Again the municipal chief executive is copied in the letter that was written on the twenty-seventh of July by the old students and the municipal chief executive and the director are still in office drawing salary,” he said. He further alleged that the Obuasi East Municipal Chief Executive had prior knowledge of the allegations, claiming that video footage showed the official entering the school with a teacher and leaving with a victim. Mensah also criticised the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Richard Ofori Agyemang-Boadi over alleged meetings with the headmaster and other officials concerning the matter. “Look at the role played by the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive on three different occasions inviting the man to your office to do what? To advise you not to engage in that act again as alleged. Again having a meeting with the head plus a housemistress and your other chief executive on this particular issue trying to what? Whether they are trying to negotiate or whatever,” he said. “I’m not a legal practitioner but I’m guided and I stand to be corrected. This falls squarely in the act of what? Abetment. Are they not abetting crime? Especially so when you are working in the interest of what? The state representing the president and you ask yourself what interest did Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive have in happening at Obuasi Senior High School that necessitated a meeting in your office going back to Obuasi to still deal with the issue again,” he fumed.Source: asaaseradio.com
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