'Presumption of innocence should not protect all privileges’ – Julius Anthony on Obuasi SHTS headmaster

A Deputy National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Julius Kwame Anthony, has argued that the presumption of innocence should not necessarily protect all the rights and privileges of persons facing serious criminal allegations.

His comments come amid criticism of the party’s decision to allow Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS) headmaster Zakaria Abdulai to contest the NDC’s Juaben constituency chairmanship election while investigations into sexual abuse allegations against him continue.

The party’s Deputy General Secretary, Mustapha Gbande, said the decision was taken after the headmaster appeared before the party’s Functional Executive Committee to respond to the allegations.

Mr Gbande explained that the leadership wanted to hear Mr Abdulai’s side of the matter and allow the relevant investigative processes to continue before making a final determination.

He said the headmaster could now file his nomination and contest the election, but stressed that the decision did not amount to an exoneration.

According to Mr Gbande, the party would monitor the investigations and could take action if substantial evidence emerged linking the headmaster to the alleged offences.

Reacting to the development in a social media post on Tuesday, October 20, Kwame Anthony said the party could respect the headmaster’s legal rights while considering public demands for transparency and restrictions on his political participation.

“The presumption of innocence is to protect personal liberties of accused persons until guilt is proven. It is not necessarily to preserve all rights and privileges,” he wrote.

He described the allegations against the headmaster as a serious breach of trust, stressing that they involved alleged criminal conduct rather than mere professional misconduct.

Kwame Anthony, however, cautioned against condemning the headmaster before the allegations had been proven.

“We must not condemn before proof but we must unite in our opprobrium of the alleged facts,” he stated.

The allegations came to wider public attention following an investigative report by JoyNews journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, which detailed claims of sexual abuse against about 19 female students at the school.