NDC admits error in clearing Obuasi SHTS headmaster amid abuse allegations

The General Secretary of the NDC, Fifi Kwetey, has acknowledged that the party mishandled its initial response to sexual abuse allegations against the headmaster of Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS), saying it should have waited for further evidence before taking a position.

Zakaria Abdulai, the headmaster of Obuasi SHTS, was the NDC Juaben Constituency Secretary who had plans to contest in the NDC Juaben constituency chairmanship race.

He said the party’s decision to initially support the headmaster followed a meeting at which he strongly denied the allegations and presented them as a politically motivated attempt to destroy his reputation.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, November 3, Mr Kwetey said the party had originally intended to ask the headmaster to step aside or withdraw, given the seriousness of the reports emerging about him.

However, at a meeting on Monday, October 19, the party decided to hear his account before taking action, in keeping with what Mr Kwetey described as the need to give him a fair hearing.

He said the headmaster’s emphatic denial, coupled with a report by the Ghana Education Service (GES) which had cleared him, influenced the party’s decision at the time.

He said Mr Abdulai spoke with such conviction that party officials were persuaded that the allegations could have been part of a political plot against him.

Documentary changed the party’s position.

Mr Kwetey said, in hindsight, the party should have delayed its decision until it had watched the investigative documentary by journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, which was broadcast later that evening.

He explained that the party was unaware that the documentary would be aired on the same day it met the headmaster and reached its initial position.

“If we had heard about it, we would have said we pause that decision, watch that evidence properly,” he said.

According to him, the documentary fundamentally altered the party’s understanding of the allegations and prompted a reassessment of the headmaster’s account.

Mr Kwetey said he watched the documentary and subsequently spoke directly with Mr Awuni the following morning, after which the party concluded that the matter was far more serious than had been presented during its earlier engagement with the headmaster.

He said the NDC consequently changed its position and directed Mr Abdulai to withdraw.

“It appeared like a flip-flop only because we had not had full access to that documentary,” he explained.

The General Secretary insisted that had the party seen the documentary before its October 19 meeting, it would have maintained its original position that the headmaster should step aside.

‘A lesson learned’

Mr Kwetey conceded that the party’s handling of the matter offered an important lesson about how it should respond to serious allegations, particularly where further evidence is expected to emerge.

He said the party’s failure to consider the documentary before making its initial decision had affected its assessment of the case.

The controversy centres on allegations of sexual abuse involving female students of Obuasi SHTS and the school’s headmaster. The allegations were brought into the public domain through an investigation by Mr Awuni, triggering public concern and calls for accountability.

The headmaster was subsequently interdicted by the GES, while the police began investigating the allegations.

Mr Kwetey’s comments represent an acknowledgement by the NDC that its initial assessment was made without access to evidence that later proved decisive in changing the party’s position.