Teachers to Withdraw Services in Three Krachi Districts

Teachers in three out of the five Krachi districts are threatening to withdraw their services when school reopens for 2013/2014 academic year over claims of insecurity.

The teachers say they no longer feel secured to continue with their work, following the strange circumstances under which teachers in the areas are dying in recent times.

The teachers said it had become evident that there were deliberate attempts being made on the lives of teachers in Krachi-East, Krachi-Nchumuru and Krachi West Districts by either individuals or groups in the area since 1996, and yet nobody has been brought to book on the killings.

Addressing a press conference in Ho to declare the stands of teachers in the three district, the Volta Regional Chairman of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr. Alexander Mawusi Boadi pointed out that there have been reported cases of killings of teachers in parts of the three districts and that available records show that two teachers died in the Districts through inexplicable circumstances without the culprits being caught and brought to justice.

To buttress the stand of the teachers, Mr. Boadi disclosed that on 7th April, 1996, Mr. Emmanuel Manu, formerly of Dambai D/A Primary 'A' School was murdered in cold blood and the body dumped at the bank of river Oti, near Dambai, and on December 25th 2002, Mr. Adifli Johnson, a teacher at Lonkortor, a fishing community in the Krachi-Nchumuru District, was also murdered and the body dumped into the Volta Lake at Lonkortor.

Mr. Boadi continued that those arrested and remanded in custody in connection with the murder were later set free, saying GNAT was surprised that Lonkortor Junior High School (JHS) which was closed down as a result of the late Adifli's murder was re-opened and is currently one of the well catered for schools in terms of staffing in the area.

The Volta GNAT Chairman said, as if the murder of teachers in the area was not enough, another teacher was murdered, who was a head teacher, Mr. Manase Marshall Mensah of Hunorkope D/A Primary School, which occurred in July 2013 and that the victim was reported missing for sometime under mysterious circumstances, as efforts by police and the community to find him proved futile.

Mr. Boadi expressed concern about teachers, saying on Wednesday, July 10, 2013, information went round that the body of the missing headteacher had been found in the Oti River at Hunorkorpe , a fishing community along the bank of the river, as the dead body was seen floating on the river by a fisherman, who informed members of the community and assisted in retrieving the body.

He said the body was sent to the Police Hospital in Accra for autopsy and a medical report issued by a pathologist at the hospital, Dr. Alina Rodriguez Grinan on July 17, 2013, revealed that the deceased died basically of drowning, with the direct cause being asphyxia by submersion.

Mr. Boadi said it could not be overemphasized that there was a calculated siege on teachers which made the area what he called 'waterloo' for teachers because the indigenes allegedly seemed to have become 'a law-unto themselves', since the police and the traditional authorities looked on helpless under the circumstances.

He, therefore, called on the government, particularly the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) to act fast to rescue the situation which he noted was bound to have drastic effect on education delivery in the long run adding that GNAT regarded the three districts as not safe and conducive to healthy productive work of teachers.

Mr. Boadi noted that in the same vein, it behoves the chiefs and elders of the area to sit up and provide security for teachers sent to them so that they could discharge their duties in an atmosphere devoid of fear and uncertainty adding that the failure of the police to arrest and prosecute the culprits so far leaves much to be desired which was an indictment on the police.

When contacted, the Krachi-West District Chief Executive, Mr. Moses Kwame Punyeh said the five districts, comprising the Krachi traditional area were putting in place measures to motivate teachers and improve upon educational activities in the area and that the communities in the three districts where the teachers were murdered were exceptional cases.

Mr. Punyeh appealed to GNAT to reconsider its decision to withdraw teachers from the three districts but rather should impose punishment on the communities where the unfortunate incidents occurred stressing that the Assemblies and the chiefs in the area would never condone criminal behaviours and that much was being done to motivate teachers in the area.