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The grief-stricken wife of Daniel Hammond, the teacher of a school at Ekumfi Otabanadzi in the Central Region, who has been remanded by a court for allegedly insulting a District Chief Executive (DCE), is appealing to government to ensure her husband’s release.

The teary wife made the appeal when she was accompanied by some twenty people made up of relatives, colleague teachers and members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to console her husband at the Winneba local prison where he is serving his one-week remand.

“I am here to visit my Husband because he has been remanded here. The children are crying and even the little girl wanted to speak to daddy because she speaks to her every day. On Tuesday, she wanted to talk to daddy but when we called the phone was off, and I couldn’t explain to her. Today [Wednesday] too she asked me; and the little boy too wants to see his daddy. I am not happy at all and I am pleading with the government to come in and release my husband for me because I know he is innocent,” a teary Christiana Hammond told Citi News.


The teacher was arrested last Friday whiles teaching upon the orders of the DCE, who accuse him of insulting him. 

The Teacher’s story

But the teacher, who is a former Presiding Member of the Ekumfi District Assembly, told Citi News his supposed crime is that, he notified the DCE of some discrepancies in the President’s ‘Accounting to the People’ address regarding the some construction work at Ekumfi-Esuehyia, also in the Central Region.

“So as a former presiding member of the assembly, I thought it wise to inform my DCE and the only thing I heard from my DCE was ‘how does it concern you?’ in a very harsh way,” Mr Hammond recounted.

“I was in the class room teaching and I saw two police men approaching the school. The whole thing was that my DCE had reported me to police that I had insulted him so I should go to the police station with them.”

DCE not speaking

The DCE has since remained silent about the matter as efforts to reach him for his side of the story have proven futile.

Citi News’ Central Regional Correspondent, Akwesi Koranteng, says when he called the DCE on Wednesday, he did not comment on the matter except to say that he in a meeting in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Teacher’s arrest politically motivated?

Akwesi Koranteng says one of Hammond’s colleague teachers; Ebenezer Anim Spio says the incident is politically motivated.

“I am a colleague teacher and a friend so I came to sympathize with him because I believe what has happened to him can happen to me. We are all politically active and you don’t know when such a thing can happen to you. We all know that this is politically motivated and we know where it’s coming from, who’s doing it and why he’s doing it. But what we can say is that, it will backfire. They say he should come to court on Tuesday and we will be there to support him with our lawyer and we will see where it ends. If sending a text to somebody is an assault and can land him in prison then the law must be clearer. We want a better interpretation as to why a teacher teaching in the classroom should be arrested just because he has insulted somebody.”

He said, “This is clear power play because he was the former PM, and then something happened between the same powers and he was demoted and removed from office and somebody else has come to take the place so obviously there is power play; and then the undercurrent tension for this whole thing is politics although it’s within the same party.”

GNAT demands teacher’s release

The Ghana National Association Teachers (GNAT) is demanding the immediate release of the teacher, who is their member.

Speaking to Citi News, the General Secretary of GNAT, David Ofori Acheampong, said the DCE abused his power by causing the arrest of the teacher. “If they are people found not to have followed due process they need to be punished. We cannot allow things of this nature to occur in this present age where some DCEs feel they are so powerful such that if they have any conflict with any individual, they can manipulate the law and do what they want”, he said.

Teacher’s incarceration flawed

He further questioned the judicial processes that remanded Mr. Hammond into prison custody.

“The incident happened at Ekumfi which has a Magistrate Court which should have handled a case of assault, the case is then taken to Ajumako which has no jurisdiction over what happens at Ekumfi and the case is adjudicated there and the teacher is remanded. We find this very inappropriate,” he stated.

Central Regional GNAT angry

Meanwhile a separate statement issued by the leadership of GNAT in the Central Region, also questioned why the teacher was not being tried at the court in Essarkyir where he was arrested instead of Ekumfi.

The Central Regional GNAT argued that Mr. Hammond was only expressing his opinion “on what he sees as discrepancies of facts, and that the incident will only seek to put fear in other teachers.

Chief Justice must investigate

The Association also called on the Chief Justice to investigate the matter.

“We are also calling on the Chief Justice to investigate the circumstances that led to the trial and incarceration of Mr. David Hammond at Ajumako instead of Essarkyir where he was arrested. Essarkyir has a Magistrate Court that could competently have handled this case,” the statement added.