George Amponsah-Duodu
An Accra High Court has quashed adverse findings made against the Assistant Headmaster of the Kumasi High School (KUHIS), George Amponsah-Duodo, who has been accused of sodomising a male student of the school.
The court, presided over by Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa, quashed certain portions of the report against the applicant since they breached the law of natural justice.
He averred that he was not given fair hearing by the committee set up by the school.
It therefore awarded cost of GH¢5,000 in favour of Mr. Amponsah-Duodo and ordered that portions of the report on the sexual misconduct be expunged from the report.
Last year, the 54-year-old Assistant Headmaster was suspended by the Ghana Education Service (GES) after he was accused of sodomising a male student.
He was said to have introduced the boy, whose name was not disclosed, to homosexuality, allegations Mr. Amponsah-Duodo vehemently denied.
He was later summoned to appear before the Ashanti Regional Disciplinary Committee of the Ghana Education Service on November 27, 2018, to answer questions on sexual offence, contrary to section 27(i) of the Code of Professional Conduct for teachers of GES.
A five-member committee was set up by the school’s headmaster to investigate the allegations after the students of KUHIS protested over homosexuality in the school.
A letter signed by the head of the Legal Unit of GES, Ashanti was sighted by DAILY GUIDE.
The school’s investigative report suspected immoral relationship between Mr. Amponsah-Duodo and the said student.
The committee cited findings of one George Tabiri Acquah, an advocate against homosexuality and old student of the school, as basis for its suspicion, the letter said.
The committee therefore preferred a charge of sexual misconduct against the accused person.
He was subsequently invited to appear before the GES’ Disciplinary Committee at noon on the said date at the Conference Hall of the Ashanti Regional Education Office.
Mr. Amponsah-Duodo vehemently denied the allegation, stating that he has never had any physical contact with a student in his career.
In a writ filed at a High Court in Accra against the two respondents, the embattled assistant headmaster called the allegations “false” and “baseless,” adding that he was not given fair hearing by the school’s disciplinary committee.
He averred that the second respondent, who is the headmaster of the school, refused to produce the student who made the allegation against him during cross-examination.
According to the applicant, the school’s committee never produced any statement written by the student.
Mr. Amponsah-Duodo said notwithstanding these, the headmaster’s committee proceeded to put together a report which formed the basis of the invitation by the GES’s Disciplinary Committee.
According to him, there appears to be a grand scheme to destroy his hard-earned integrity and 27 year-record in the school both as student and teacher.
He said that several stories were published in the media before he had the chance to give his side of the story to the GES’s Disciplinary Committee.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi