The Mayor of Kumasi, Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi, has denied allegations that he attempted to shield the interdicted headmaster of Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS), Zakaria Abdulai, from accountability over alleged sexual misconduct involving female students.
Appearing before Parliament’s Local Government Committee, Mr Agyemang Boadi said he had no direct supervisory authority over the headmaster and no role in determining whether disciplinary action should be taken against him.
“I don’t have any direct supervisory role over the headmaster. I don’t have anything to do with whether he was going to be sanctioned or not. So I cannot, with any shred of imagination, be covering him up,” he said.
The mayor, however, disclosed that he had previously cautioned Mr Abdulai against allowing female students to visit his residence after concerns about his conduct were brought to his attention.
He said he intervened after someone raised the issue during a visit to Obuasi, explaining that his intention was to prevent further concerns and protect the headmaster from negative public perception.
“I admonished him and asked him not to allow female students to come so that the perception being created about him in Obuasi would not be fuelled,” he told the committee.
His comments come amid allegations of sexual misconduct involving 19 female students of Obuasi SHTS, which prompted the Ghana Education Service (GES) to interdict the headmaster pending investigations.
Interior Minister Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka has also disclosed that Mr Abdulai was arrested as part of the police investigation into the allegations.
The case has drawn public attention and prompted calls for investigations into the circumstances surrounding the alleged misconduct.
Investigations remain ongoing, and the allegations against the headmaster have yet to be established through the relevant investigative and disciplinary processes.
