We have received hundreds of emails every month about Prempeh-related matters. We hereby answer some of our viewers questions.
Senior, the story about how the Headmaster has spent a donation intended to provide medicine for sick children is very shocking to me. One Senior Kwaku Danso is claiming he gave the Headmaster money to set up an asthma foundation. Is this story true?
Yes, it is true. We actually facilitated the contact between California-based Senior K. Danso (Class of ’67) and the Headmaster. He contacted us about his Asthma Foundation proposal in June 2004 and wanted to get in touch with the Headmaster ahead of his visit to Ghana in August 2004. In fact, he became very disappointed with the school administrators at that time because he was calling the Headmaster’s office directly in June and July of that year but no one was picking up the phone. He even sent a fax but got no response until we gave him the Headmaster’s mobile phone number. He then called the Headmaster and informed him about his plan to donate money to set up an Asthma Foundation.
So did he give the headmaster any money?
Yes, when he arrived in Ghana he phoned the headmaster on the mobile number prempeh.org had given him. He met the Headmaster privately in his office and gave him C5 million, which was intended to be just a start-up fund. The goal was for the Headmaster to use that to purchase some asthma medications from a local pharmacy and make it available to students, and then inform Senior Danso about the status of it so that he can lobby his friends abroad to donate some more cash towards this noble mission. You know a Prempeh boy had died of asthma in Opoku Ware House dormitory just 2 years earlier.
What should he have done when he received the money ?
He could have walked straight with the donor to the Assembly, rang the school bells and announced it to the student body. A Danso Asthma Foundation (DAF) would have been nice.
It would have inspired other Amanfoo to establish similar programs. Instead he pretended that he was so busy on campus that he could not take any action on the donation on that particular day.
So he took the money from Danso, waved goodbye to him, and consciously kept the money to himself. He could have also purchased the drugs a
few days or weeks after and made an announcement to the school. But he did not do so.
How did Danso know that nothing has been done with the money?
He has been following the website every day for the past 3 years, reading and hoping to read something about the Asthma Foundation. But when he didn't get any news relating to asthma treatment
on campus, he then made an inquiry.
Why didn't he give you guys the money to deliver?
He was heading to Ghana anyway. And he felt that it will be better if he delivered to the headmaster directly.
Why did he make a private donation to the Headmaster without any witness present?
He has been living outside Ghana for about 25 years. Probably he thought everything is as transparent as it is in the USA.
Why did the Headmaster think that he could get away with that?
He thought that he could secretly keep the donation and not inform any of his staff because nobody knew of Danso's visit to his office besides him.
He thought that this will be his word against Danso's since nobody else saw the visit. He did not know that prempeh.org staff actually facilitated the meeting.
That was pure folly on his part. Nearly all such visitations and programs at Sofoline are initiated by the protagonists through this website. nearly everything! Just because we do
not write about something publicly does not mean we do not know of it! When Mr. Copp (the British Prempeh teacher from the 1950s) decided that he wanted to visit President
Kufuor at the castle and then Sofoline, it was initiated through this website and we facilitated the visits. So how the heck did he think Senior Danso got his (the headmaster's) phone number?
Why is the Asthma Foundation necessary?
Like I said, a Prempeh boy died in his dorm at Opoku Ware House in 2002 because there was no Housemaster or Senior Housemaster available at the time to give him exeat to go to the hospital. His classmates spent a long time searching for a housemaster to give the poor boy an exeat to go out of campus and there was nobody available at that time to give an exeat. By the time the boys had the foresight to call for the school bus to take the boy, it was too late. He died.
And Senior Kwaku Danso is an asthmatic himself. During his days at Sofoline, he used to walk from Sofoline to Okomfo Anokye Hospital to get in line for asthma treatment. So he wants to ensure that these problems do not befall any Prempeh student of the modern era.
Wow, a student died under the headmaster’s watch from this disease and yet he takes money intended to prevent such deaths in the future and spend it on himself?
Yes. That illustrates the problem with the human conscience in our time. Spending the money on the hotel he is building is more important than spending it on the rightful owners – sick children.
What do you think should happen to him?
Well, all we can say is that, this will result in dismissal from the job – immediate dismissal – in any country where the rule of law rules supreme.
What is the Board of Governors doing about this?
They are grappling with this very serious issue. A secretary or assistant to one of the Board members phoned us the very day the report appeared here to get more information. They wanted more information. But a telephone number and email address of Senior Kwaku Danso is all that is needed.
Are they going to sanction him?
If the Board lets the headmaster get away with this, it will be a reflection of their own character! If the avaricious Headmaster
escapes this scandal, it will only imply that the Board of Governors that supervise him has a character flaw as well!
What has the headmaster done about it?
Nothing, besides barring Prempeh teachers from talking about it. He has refused to speak about it. He even ran from the Pearson-Osae Lecture just to avoid answering questions about it. He has also refused to make the Asthma Foundation available to the boys. Not only is he not returning the money, he is also refusing to let the fund or program become available to the boys who may need such medication. He has had so many chances to rectify the problem. But it appears he is playing a game of “catch-me-if-you-can” with Kwaku Danso, because he knows the senior is based in the far away USA and he, Owusu-Achiaw, is destined to leave office in September 2008 anyway.
What opportunities has he had to correct the problem?
Senior Danso first raised this issue in July/August 2007 – a time when the school was on vacation. That was when he first posted a message
on our forum about how the headmaster took money from him 3 years ago for the establishment of an Asthma Foundation but never did anything
about it. The Headmaster could have privately contacted Senior Danso and apologized for “forgetting” about setting up the foundation. Just
a simple note to him that he will set up the Foundation on reopening day in September will have been sufficient. This information could have
become a private matter and no one would have known about it. But he refused to acknowledge even knowing who Kwaku Danso is. On reopening
day (September 11, 2007), we waited patiently hoping the Headmaster will make an announcement about an Asthma Foundation he has “forgotten
about” for 3 years. But he made none of it. We published a report on this issue and he still refused to refund the money or make the Fund
available to asthma patients on campus. We waited for mid-terms to come, hoping that upon return from the mid-term holidays, the headmaster
will make an announcement about this the Assembly Hall. But instead he refuses to talk about it.
Furthermore, he has received 6 salaries – 3 months each of Prempeh headmaster-salary and Chairman of Heads of Assisted Schools (CHASS)-salary – since this issue
came up. He has enough money to use to refund the donation or set up the Fund, but he refuses. Not even his secretary will answer questions about this. Meanwhile he
continues to buy cement towards his construction of a new hotel.
Sir, how did you figure out the Headmaster is building a hotel?
One of our boys (prempeh.org correspondents) was sauntering somewhere around Kumasi minding his own business, when all of a sudden he came across a group of ladies chatting. The women were talking about their husbands and their daily routines and related information about marital life. Suddenly a lady appeared and joined her friends and started talking about how her husband is building a very elegant hotel in Kumasi. Obviously, the Amanfoo recognized the lady as Mrs. Owusu Achiaw – the headmaster’s wife – but the woman didn’t know who that boy was. So she went ahead for hours giving details about the hotel and how Prempeh headmaster acquired his wealth. She said, among other things:
“Ei, mekunu Akwasi anaa, onye agoro. Oresi hotel kakraka bi wo kurom ha. Eho na Kumasi asikafuo nyinaa beko akoda. Osikanii
biara a obesi kurom ha beko akoda mekunu hotel.” (As for my husband Akwasi, he is no lightweight! He is building a big hotel
in Kumasi. When completed, all the rich people in the city will patronize it. All the rich people who visit Kumasi will
lodge at my husband’s hotel)."
Was she showing off?
Yes. That meeting point is a place the wife goes very often. She goes there so frequently and has released a lot of information about her husband over time. We have followed this woman over there for years now and have been able to gather a lot of information about her husband. So, as you can imagine, this is not a report derived from a one-time, 5-minute conversation. The information about the headmaster’s acquisition of wealth through whatever means is a very damning indictment of the Owusu-Achiaw regime.
Have you seen the hotel?
Yes, based on the report the woman gave. We had to check it out ourselves. It is still under construction.
What does the Headmaster say about the hotel?
As expected, he denied building a hotel. He claims that a “small house” he is building “for his family” has been mistaken for a hotel. But he is lying to us. We know that he is building a mansion in addition to the hotel.
Is there something wrong with a headmaster building a hotel?
No. With his own money, he can build a Tower of Babel and have it reach the sky if he wants. But it becomes a problem for us if his business interests in the city (such as the building of a hotel) distracts from his school-mastering duties. Have you ever wondered why the headmaster never attends morning assembly and he is never available on campus? In June, when the Prefects were looking for the headmaster to discuss a very critical issue with him, it took them 3 weeks to find him. Why should it take a Senior Prefect 3 weeks of ko-na-bra to find his Headmaster?
Is he a wealthy man?
Well, the last time we checked his pockets, we found only C30, 000. He made us dig into his pocket just to show us how poor he is. He is a poor rich man.
