“Lawless” Achimota School Board Must Be Called To Order Or Be Dissolved

It cannot be emphasized enough that Ghana is a nation of laws. Ghana is a nation of rule of law; not rule of men. Ghana is regarded world over as the citadel of rule of law and democracy in Africa. This is because laws work in this country of ours. It is our pride as a country, and many countries across the globe look up to us. We earned it because we worked hard at it. We cannot afford to lose this enviable pride. We just cannot trade it for anything.

However, recent developments regarding the conduct of the Board of Governors of Achimota school leaves many wondering whether Ghana can continue to pride itself as the bastion of rule of law. Those who hold this view may be justified if and only if the Government of Ghana, through the relevant State Agencies/Departments/Ministries, fails to call the School Board to order, or better still, to simply dissolve the Board.

The Board of the school has consistently proven that they have no regard for the Laws and Constitution of Ghana. They have no regard for lawful authority, be it from the Ghana Education Service or from the Courts of Competent Jurisdiction. They have ostensibly turned Achimota School into a Republic, with its own Constitution and set of Laws.

They tell us, by their conduct, that, the laws of Ghana are inapplicable in Achimota School; and the Courts of Ghana cannot extend their jurisdiction to the four walls of Achimota. They forget that Achimota, as a public school, is funded by the taxes paid by Ghanaians. They forget that the Government of Ghana employed all the teachers of Achimota School, and is paying them with our taxes.

The sheer impudence and brazen impunity with which the Achimota School Board have called the bluff of the orders of the High Court, is most baffling. Without recourse to the Minister of Education, the Ghana Education Service, and the Attorney-General who represented/defended the school in court, why would the Board issue such a defiant statement on the orders, and proceed to instruct their lawyers to appeal against the ruling of the court, when in fact, the judgment is not even out yet. This clearly shows that they have no intentions of respecting the explicit orders of the court.

Equally, the current Board of Governors of Achimota School, have shown that they have no respect for the founding principles of the school attended by Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah; H.E. Edward Akufo-Addo; H.E. Jerry John Rawlings; H.E. John Evans Atta Mills; Madam Joyce Aryee; Obed Asamoah; Alan Kyeremateng; Ken Ofori-Atta and many other prominent Ghanaians of all times. The current Board of the School are thus desecrating the enviable reputation of Achimota, as a school of inclusion and diversity. It is no more about the interest of Achimota and its students but their personal interests, egos and vanity. How disappointing!

We need to act now to save Achimota from the path of self-destruction occasioned by the lawless intransigence of the current authorities of the school. That is why I also call on the appointing authority (the Government of Ghana, through the Minister of Education), to immediately dissolve the current Board of the School in line with Article 297 of the Constitution of Ghana and the GES Act. School Boards are supposed to help Governments administer schools, and not to serve as impediments to the administration of schools by State actors. I hope Wesley Girls SHS is learning relevant lessons from this legal caboodle. Need I say more????

Assalamu alaikum

Alhaji Iddi Muhayu-Deen
#ForGodAndCountry
[email protected]