Assistant Headmaster of Kumasi High School (KUHIS), George Amponsah-Duodo, who has been suspended over an allegation of ‘sodomising’ a male student of the school, has filed a defamation case against the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the headmaster of the school.
The allegations levelled against Mr. Amponsah-Duodo by the disciplinary committee of the school and his subsequent invitation by the GES disciplinary committee have inspired more media publications about his alleged “sexual misconduct”.
The 54-year-old man was accused of engaging the male student in romantic episodes after introducing the boy to the act of homosexuality, but Mr. Amponsah-Duodo has vehemently denied the allegations.
He was summoned to appear before the Ashanti Regional Disciplinary Committee of the GES last Tuesday, November 27, 2018, to provide an answer to a case of sexual offence, contrary to section 27(i) of the Code of Professional Conduct for teachers of GES.
The beleaguered assistant headmaster was suspended from his official position by the GES following the allegations made by the student.
The allegations came after agitations among the entire student body of KUHIS concerning alleged practice of homosexuality among some students and staff of the school, which led to the setting up of a five-member committee by the headmaster of the school to probe the allegations.
In a letter signed by the head of legal unit of GES, which was cited by DAILY GUIDE, the committee said even though the accused headmaster denied the allegations both in writing and in oral, it suspected an offence of immoral relationship between Mr. Amponsah-Duodo and the student.
The committee cited findings of one Mr. George Tabiri Acquah, an advocate against homosexuality and old student of the school, as one of the bases for its suspicion since the findings corroborated the account of the student.
The committee therefore preferred a charge of sexual misconduct against the accused person which has necessitated his invitation to appear before the GES disciplinary committee at 12 o’clock noon on the said date at the Conference Hall of the Ashanti Regional Education Office.
Mr. Amponsah-Duodo, however, mounted strong defence against the accusation, vehemently denying the allegation of any form of sexual misconduct with the male student and stating unequivocally that at no point in time in his professional career has he ever had any form of physical contact with the said student.
In a writ filed at a High Court in Accra against the two respondents, the embattled assistant headmaster called the allegations “false” and “baseless” as he was not given a fair hearing by the disciplinary committee of the school. He averred the second respondent, who is the headmaster of the school, refused to produce the student who made the allegation against him during the investigation process for cross-examination.
According to the applicant, the school committee never produced any complaint or statement to have written by his accuser or even mentioned his name during the process of investigation.
Mr. Amponsah-Duodo said, notwithstanding these, the headmaster’s committee proceeded to put together a report which formed the basis for his invitation by the GES disciplinary committee.
For him, it appears there is a grand scheme being masterminded ostensibly to destroy his hard-earned integrity and moral record for 27 years of stay in the school both as a student and a teacher.
He said that it was extremely unbelievable that before he could give his side of the story to the GES disciplinary committee, there were several media publications on the matter ahead of the meeting.
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