A committee that investigated the August 2026 disturbances at Obuasi Senior High Technical School has concluded that none of the students or teachers who appeared before it witnessed the headmaster burying a foetus on the school compound as had been alleged.
The committee also said an allegation that the headmaster’s vehicle had been seen at the burial site was unsupported by the evidence, noting that the location could not be accessed by vehicle.
“Consequently, the Committee found that the allegation that the Headmaster personally buried the baby or that his vehicle was present at the burial site was not substantiated by direct evidence,” the report stated.
The nine-member committee was constituted following disturbances on Tuesday, 4 August 2026, during which the headmaster was assaulted, and school and personal property were damaged.
The unrest followed the discovery of what appeared to be the remains of a baby buried on the school grounds.
According to the committee, evidence from students indicated that the discovery was first reported to housemasters around midday. The allegation linking the headmaster to the burial emerged later that night.
“The Committee found that the Headmaster was therefore subsequently linked to the incident without evidence from any witness who had actually seen him burying the baby,” the report said.
The committee further established that the Assistant Headmaster in charge of domestic affairs led a team to the site. It said the team exhumed the remains at about 10.30 p.m. and subsequently reburied them before the headmaster was informed of the discovery at approximately 11.30 p.m.
Investigators said this sequence was significant in assessing the allegations subsequently made against him.
The report also examined an account that the headmaster had emerged from the bush and secretly handed a cutlass to a student.
The committee found that the cutlass belonged to a school labourer and that the headmaster handed it to a student in the presence of students and teachers gathered for the distribution of furniture and beds donated by the Parent-Teacher Association.
According to the findings, the student was instructed to deliver the cutlass to a mechanic working on the headmaster’s private vehicle at his residence. The committee said this happened around 8 a.m. on 4 August.
It concluded that the account of the headmaster secretly handing over a cutlass after emerging from the bush was inconsistent with the evidence presented.
However, the committee said its efforts to establish a complete account of the discovery were hampered by the refusal of teachers who appeared before it to identify the students who initially found the site or accompanied them there.
The inquiry, inaugurated on 11 August, identified wider problems at the school, including weak security, staff factions, student gangs and a breakdown of trust between the headmaster and sections of the school community.
Its findings relate to the August disturbances and are separate from a fresh investigation commissioned by the Ghana Education Service following a recent JoyNews investigation into another allegation of sexual abuse against the headmaster, Zakaria Abdulai.
Source: Myjoyonline
