Executive Director of the ARK Foundation, Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, has condemned the repeated failure of state institutions to protect students from abuse, declaring that the country is operating a “very broken system” following emerging sexual assault allegations at Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS).
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, Ms. Dwamena-Aboagye expressed deep concern over how sexual misconduct in secondary schools appears to have become normalized, questioning why past investigative reports have failed to yield lasting systemic reforms.
“It shouldn’t be a shock, but if you keep hearing these things happening over and over again, you know that we are operating in a system that has no system or a very, very broken system,” Ms. Dwamena-Aboagye said. “We have sat down for this to happen over and over again. And I think as a country, we must be ashamed. GES [Ghana Education Service] has a lot to answer for.”
The outcry follows a investigative report revealing that municipal and education officials had reportedly received complaints regarding the headmaster’s conduct months before taking action.
Ms. Dwamena-Aboagye called for a comprehensive investigation that extends beyond the primary suspect, insisting that anyone who attempted to conceal the alleged abuse or shield the perpetrator must face legal consequences.
“All colluders must be identified and sanctioned at every level,” she urged. “The first thing is that impunity must end. We must let people understand you can’t bring our mindset of invisibility of sexual violence into a case that is happening live. We need to act.”
She emphasized that while the accused is legally presumed innocent until proven guilty, the state must treat the allegations with utmost seriousness and enforce existing legislation, including the Criminal Offences Act, the Domestic Violence Act, and the Children’s Act.
“This is a case where, if the allegations are proved and yes, we all know that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty and we need to remind ourselves of that there are several infractions of the laws that we have in this country all at once,” she noted.
Demanding immediate institutional action, the activist urged the Department of Social Welfare to track down all potential victims to ensure they and their families receive urgent psychological and social support.
“By now, I should hear that the Social Welfare Department in the district has already moved into the school, found all those girls those that have even gone to their villages and put them in a system where they can get psychosocial help,” she said. “Somebody needs to reach out to them for help.”
Ms. Dwamena-Aboagye also cautioned against political commentary or attempts to turn the scandal into a partisan dispute between political parties.
“Anybody turns this into an NPP-NDC issue to start counting how many cases of sexual assaults happened in this regime and happened in that regime… even if some people are protecting the man, I don’t think it’s a whole party,” she warned. “You cannot, as adults, be protecting an adult who has care over people in the name of any political connection.”
