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Face to face: Prempeh & OWASS
PREMPEH AND OWASS HEADMASTERS FACE THE PRESS
Friday, January 6, 2006 (Late Edition)
The Headmaster of Prempeh College, Mr. A. Owusu-Achiaw and his OWASS counterpart, Mr. S. Anokye, who was
a former deputy Headmaster of Prempeh under Achiaw, were interviewed by the press on Thursday.
Ohene Gyan, host of Kessben FM's Hardtalk
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The location was Kessben FM, where host Ohene Gyan asked both gentlemen some tough
questions, including questions about crisis that have engulfed both schools.
Our headmaster was asked to comment about "comments and articles that have appeared on prempeh.org
about Prempeh being in complete disarray."
The headmaster assured the listening
audience that the crisis, which has since
been resolved, was due to a poor commitment on the part of the Prempeh masters. He said that, Prempeh's
prefects are so serious about their work and school that, if the masters had approached their work with a similar
zeal, all will be well. He denounced Mr. Atiemo on the radio, saying that the Senior Housemaster "does not know his
responsibilities."
The headmaster said he first became enlightened in late last term when he entered a
Prempeh Carol's Night event only to find none of the staff
present -- only Prefects were available. This showed him that the
Prefects were actually right and the masters were the problem.
The presenter asked Mr. Owusu-Achiaw if he agreed, based on the writings on prempeh.org, that "the pen is mightier than the sword," which
he heartily agreed.
OWASS headmaster was asked to explain why similar crisis has engulfed his school. Mr. Anokye, who could be considered probably the most
respected Assistant Prempeh Headmaster in Prempeh's illustrious history, replied that he dismissed some boys
from the school for leaving campus without exeat which was deemed too draconian. That caused some disgruntlement among people in the
Owarean community. Consequently, he intends to bring back the boys this coming term.
Prempeh's 9th Headmaster, Mr. Asamoah Owusu-Achiaw
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Websites
The presenter then asked Mr. Anokye why OWASS has so many websites; "it appears each person is creating his own, there isn't a
single uniting force like prempeh.org." The OWASS headmaster replied that they have one in the works, and opokuwareschool.org will
soon be available for the school. The problem has been the lack of commitment from Old boys.
Prempeh beating OWASS in everything
The presenter asked both headmasters
why OWASS sports has fallen and Prempeh continually rises. Ohene Gyan also asked how
come Prempeh beats OWASS in every academic endeavour, including university admissions. Using
his own university education as an example, he said that when he was at Legon's Commonwealth Hall, the place was filled
with only Prempeh students, and Prempeh continually dominates every university's admission list.
At this point Mr. Anokye was wilting. He said the host was not being fair because he was praising Prempeh. He must have disappointed the OWASS fraternity
when he said that there are many OWASS boys in the nursing training colleges and the polytechnics and that Legon and Tech are not the only admission statistics we
should consider. While Mr. Owusu-Achiaw laughed profusely, angry callers called in to express their dismay at Mr. Anokye's remark that Owareans
are best fit for the training colleges and polytechnics.
Mr. Anokye lambasted the OWASS old boys for not showing any devotion to their alma mater while blaming them for all the school's deficiencies, particularly in sports.
In contrast, Prempeh's headmaster kept praising his old boys, particularly prempeh.org and its founder. He said "we are very serious in all aspects, that is why
Prempeh is rapidly moving up in all directions -- both sports and academic endeavours. It
is because of the commitment of the people like Harold Ofori and Mr. Asare Lartey -- the sports master," he said.
The headmaster repeatedly praised Mr. Lartey for his hard work and the sacrifices he is making for the school.
Mr. Stephen Anokye
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Butler House versus Santasi champion
The radio presenter then mentioned that he had read here that Prempeh's Butler house was
to face OWASS' soccer champion. He asked Mr. Anokye to shed some light on it. With Prempeh headmaster laughing his head off
(because he is very cognizant of Butler's overwhelming superiority), Mr. Anokye said, "when I was at Prempeh, Butler house was good, but
St. Andrews or St. Peter's will beat them." He said that owing to a lack of support from the OWASS old
boys, they were not able to organize a successful league.
National Science Quiz
When it was revealed that Prempeh College's quiz contestants were staying on campus for training, the people were marvelled. The headmaster revealed to the
listening audience how he has set up a special Science Quiz bank account, which the old boys, particularly Senior Harold Ofori, transfer money in for the quiz team. Mr. Anokye was asked
why his boys has not started training yet.
Interestingly, he said that Prempeh trained very well last year and was better prepared than his school but it was rather OWASS that made it to the finals. He said that OWASS will select their contestants when
school reopen (in about about 2 weeks time), which is very strange considering that this year's edition of the quiz may actually be held in February. This means that
they could have less than 4 weeks to prepare while Prempeh and St. Peters have been preparing their already-selected contestants since August 2005.
When he was asked about how come he does not have any such bank account, he replied that the Akatakyie do not support the school, which caused Mr. Owusu-Achiaw to laugh freely, again.
His remarks about OWASS placing second despite lesser preparation enraged some callers who challenged the wisdom in his remarks. The angry callers pointed out that even if Prempeh does not win the competition
this year, the preparation they are giving the 12 selected contestants will have a far-reaching effect on their careers, since they could possibly scores 8A's on the SSSCE. Even if half of the 12 contestants
score a perfect 8A's, it will put Prempeh over the top and widen even further the wide gulf in achievements between the two schools, the callers pointed out.
A caller then suggested that Harold Ofori be flown in to Ghana to be given a special award if Prempeh succeeds in capturing the Quiz trophy.
Bushmeat replaced Anokye
Though prempeh.org is very fond of Mr. Anokye, we have to say that it became so
unbearable for him that a former OWASS headmaster of the 1970s, Mr. Owusu Donkor, who was popularly known in his time as Bushmeat,
stepped in to diffuse the bombs being thrown at OWASS presumably for their mediocrity. Mr. Owusu Donkor took over and said, "we are going to be serious from
now on, I will be setting up a bank account for our school. We will be attacking Prempeh from all corners now."
Very competitive by nature, Mr. Owusu Donkor was the headmaster who decided to take out the "Secondary" out of Opoku Ware Secondary School
to make it Opoku Ware School (just to bear resemblance to Prempeh's use of "College") and made the Santasi boys compete with Prempeh College
on all fronts because he believed during his tenure that Prempeh was the best to copy. He re-asserted that "attack Prempeh from all corners"
philosophy on the radio.
The callers wondered why Prempeh always started trends for OWASS to follow. They wanted to know why the Santasi people
were content with playing the role of our little brothers, always happy to follow our lead from the rear.
Bushmeat reminded the audience that it will no longer be like that.
Conclusion
The interview, which lasted 15 minutes, was followed by about 20 minutes of phone calls,
most of which was favourable to the winner -- Mr. Owusu Achiaw, who is probably still laughing.
What happened at Kessben FM showed us once again that everyone is tuned in to our website. While touring several cafes in Kumasi, we realized that
anytime we typed "p" into a browser, Internet Explorer completed the
request by placing "prempeh.org" in the browser window, meaning that a previous
user of the computer had visited this website recently.
The program also showed us once again that Prempeh's supremacy is unmatched by any other in Ashanti. The stunning list of dignitaries that have visisted the school
in recent years bears testimony to this fact.
The President & the King visits in 2001 |
The Vice-President visited in 2004
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The President in 2005 |
The King came in 2002 and 2005
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The former President in 1999 & 2000 |
The Interior Minister came in 2003
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