Being an alumnus of Kumawu Tweneboah Koduah Secondary School, my alma mater, I am always keen to know about how the school and the students are faring, almost all of the time. Any good thing said about the school, or goes on in the school, gladdens my heart. Similarly, or in the reverse order, any bad thing that affects the school and her students dampens my morals.
For the past few months, when Asantehene in collusion with Kumawuhemaa and the dishonourable Asanteman Council of chiefs (amanhene) decided to impose one Dr Yaw Sarfo on Kumawuman as their Omanhene (paramount chief), Tweneboah Koduah Secondary School has nearly become a police/military camp. This has become so conspicuous since Sunday, 18 January 2015, when Barimah Tweneboah Koduah V, the most popular and credible Kumawu Omanhene, a true matrilineal descendant from Barimah Tweneboah Koduah I, the originator of the Kumawu Koduah Stool, celebrated his first dignified "Akwasidee". Check YouTube under Barima Tweneboa Koduah V to see him sit in State, celebrating Akwasidee.
During the illegal enthronement of Dr Yaw Sarfo (Barimah Sarfo Tweneboah Koduah), the supposed "3bo3fa dadee fa" by his own uncle, Op. Osei Kwabena's assertion, Asantehene and Kumawuhemaa dubiously arranged with Ashanti Regional Police Commander Kofi Boakye to dispatch hundreds of armed police personnel and several police armour vehicles to Kumawu. Their sole intention or purpose was to intimidate Kumawuman citizens to accept without anyone raising an objection to the enstoolment of that ineligible "royal" as the Omanhene of Kumawu.
Instead of Asantehene and his cohorts arranging a place for them to stay throughout the entire duration of their obnoxiously intimidating, needlessly illegal harassments, of innocent Kumawuman citizens, they do not. They rather always send them to Kumawu Tweneboah Koduah Secondary School to lodge them in the school infirmary. Subsequently, the infirmary catering for a student population of about three thousand (3, 0000) has been closed down permanently. The qualified Senior Nurse, who was in charge of the infirmary that was more or less a useful clinic in the eye of the students, has been transferred to Effiduase Government General Hospital.
Just for the flippant "create, loot and share" quest by Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and Kumawuhemaa Abenaa Serwaah Amponsah, the health needs of the students have been compromised.
Additionally, the police cum military contingent sent to the school feed from almost the same meals served to the students, and eat at the same canteen (dining hall) as the students do. The meals for the armed security personnel are understandably far richer quantitatively and qualitatively than that given to the students.
My questions now are who pays for feeding the police and the soldiers sent to Kumawu? Is it paid for from the budget of the Ministry of Defence (Interior and Defence Ministries)? Why are they lodged at Tweneboah Koduah Secondary School, leading to the closure of the school infirmary? In the recent past, or recently, there had not, or have not, been, any public commotions in Kumawuman, what then is the motive of Asantehene, Police Commander Kofi Boakye, Kumawuhemaa or whoever is behind that unnecessary dispatches of armed police and military personnel to Kumawu? Who is footing the expenses incurred as a result of the intentional, although illegal, desire by Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and Kumawuhemaa to short-change Kumawuman in such broad daylight?
My investigations do prove that the police personnel and the soldiers sent to Tweneboah Koduah Secondary School do behave irresponsibly, if not unprofessionally. They behave as though Tweneboah Koduah Secondary School is a battlefield. They rev up their armour vehicles' engines, screech the tyres. Some of the students let out a squeak of fright at the sight of the heavily armed policemen. The police fail to act professionally, by not taking into consideration the sensibilities and vulnerabilities of the young students. They prefer to exercise machismo as though they are living in the jungle.
Civilisation has dawned on the world. Therefore, we expect our armed forces and police to protect the taxpayers (the public) but not to intimidate them as contrarily instructed by Otumfuo Osei Tutu II or whomever. They must go by the laws of the land. Ghanaians cannot continue to live under the tyranny of some criminal despot, a situation exacerbated by the ignorance of our law enforcement agents.
Gone are the days in the 1970's when Duffour (deceased), Gyasi, Edward Pianim, "Akoloo" and Sekyere Marfo were the Senior School Prefects of Tweneboah Koduah Secondary School (T.K.S.S). Everything was perfect and the police would not even have dared come to eat the students' food, let alone, closing down their school infirmary, to use the building for police hostel, then rev up their armour vehicles engines threateningly.
All old students of T.K.S.S are invited to pile up pressure on the supposed powers-that-be, President Mahama, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II; PC Kofi Boakye etc. to bring back the Senior Nurse and then reopen the school infirmary. We do not want the students to bear unnecessary, but needed, pressure on the local Kumawu Health Post that is even struggling to cope with the health needs of the local population minus that of the unfortunate student population.
I can only hope that the police and the soldiers do not use their intimidating presence and tactics at this trying moment to chat up the young vulnerable female students.
I dedicate this publication to the students of T.K.S.S both present and past. Where are these alumnae – Hannah Bonsu, Emelia Dapaah, Adwoa Owuo and Selina...?
Rockson Adofo