GNAT to seek reparation for alleged flogging of teacher by a chief

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) on Wednesday pledged to use all legitimate means to ensure that the chief who allegedly subjected a teacher to severe flogging is put before court.

The pledge was contained in a statement signed by Mrs Irene T. Duncan Adanusa, General Secretary of GNAT in Accra to condemn Nana Akwasi Acheampong, Chief of Ejisu-Besease who allegedly flogged a

French teacher of Ejisu-Besease Junior High School in the Ashanti Region on suspicion of smoking Indian hemp.

According to the statement, Nana Acheampong flogged the teacher at his palace in the afternoon of Saturday, June 25 this year, and that the action angered teachers in the area to boycott classes in protest.

“While not holding brief for the teacher, the action of the chief was

arbitrary, unprovoked and unwarranted which has demeaned,disgraced and made it absolutely impossible for the teacher and any

other teacher to continue to rendering his services to the community,” it added.

The statement noted that teachers, as public sector employees, work under superior authority within the Ghana Education Service (GES), and therefore should a teacher misconduct himself or herself, there were several avenues open to the employer and indeed the general public to apply the appropriate sanctions.

“The chief has no right whatsoever to take the law into his own hands and act in an arbitrary fashion,” the statement insisted.