Dr. Opoku-Prempeh listening to the family
The Minister of Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, has led a high-powered delegation from the education sector to Asiakwa in the Eastern Region to commiserate with the family of the late George Somuah Bosompem, the Religious and Moral Education teacher at Asiakwa Salvation Army Basic School, who was beaten to death by some young men in the town.
The delegation included the Director-General of Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Kwasi Opoku Amankwa and some top officials of the GES.
Dr. Opoku-Prempeh consoled the family and assured them that the government would not allow the perpetrators to go scot-free.
He later met teachers in the Asiakwa Circuit of the Ghana National Teachers Association (GNAT) who have been incensed by the death of their colleague, for which reason they have embarked on a sit-down strike.
The minister, who acknowledged their concerns, appealed passionately to the aggrieved teachers to return to the classroom so that the BECE candidates would not be unduly punished.
The minister also admonished them to take up the GES/SIC life group insurance in order to deal with any mishap that would occur in future.
Prof. Opoku Amankwa, for his part, also reiterated the commitment of GES to support the family and police to ensure justice.
The Abuakwa South Municipal Secretary for Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas Awuah Oppong, on behalf of the teachers, said they would soon take a decision on the matter.
He said that the marijuana smokers had gradually turned classrooms at Asiakwa into a ‘wee’ base.
“If you go to Asiakwa, each night every basic school there is turned into a marijuana smoking ghetto. If you fix light bulbs in the classrooms, the miscreants go there to steal them. If the classroom is locked after school hours, the wee smokers break into them and smoke there,” he complained bitterly.
“So to avoid the breaking into the classrooms, one classroom is intentionally left for them to use,” he added.
The Kibi District Magistrate Court yesterday took six persons accused of murdering the teacher into prison custody.
The six – Richard Amaning, 18; Mireku Emmanuel, 19; Philop Kodie, 19; Offei Frimpong, 19; Ezekiel Boadu, 20; and Evans Aboagye, alias Otega, 19 – are facing charges of conspiracy and murder.
The six are said to be marijuana (wee) smokers and ‘gangsters’ at Asiakwa.
The prosecutor, Margaret Kontoh, told the court presided over by Alice Efua Yirenkyi that further investigations showed that they did not give their right ages to the police when they were arrested and records in their respective schools revealed their ages.
The prosecutor prayed the court to remand them to enable police investigate their records at the Birth Registry.
Defence counsel, led by Peter Nimo, is pushing for the trial to be sent to Juvenile Court because the suspects are underage.
He said two of the accused persons – Mireku Emmanuel and Philip Kodie – were not in the community when the incident happened.
The court remanded them to reappear on May 25.
Mr. Bosompem was brutally assaulted by the six teenagers suspected to be ‘Indian Hemp’ smokers which led to his death.
He was attacked by the suspects for protesting against the smoking of wee and defecation in the school on April 4.
From Daniel Bampoe, Asiakwa