Krobo Girls’ Head Dodges

*After ¢500 Million Extortion and Murder *

* *

A week after their dishonest action led to the death of one of their students, 18-year-old Amanda Owusu-Afriyie Kornor, a form three student, the authorities of Krobo Girls’ Senior High School at Odumasi-Krobo in the Eastern Region, are still unable to explain why they sacked the 200 students from campus, leading to the fatal lorry accident.

A frantic attempt by The Herald to get the headmistress, Mrs. Cecilia Appiah, for the reasons for driving out the students although she and others had pocketed a whopping ¢500 million being the total of money collected from the 200 students with promise of allowing them stay on campus, feeding and providing them with tuition has proved futile.

The Herald’s *Gifty Arthur* reports that “as I entered the school premises, I felt all was not well as the quietness of the compound and the faces that greeted me were not welcoming at all.

“Nobody in the school was willing to talk to me as soon as I mentioned my mission to the school last Tuesday morning. Three women who I met on my arrival would not even look me in the face as soon as I mentioned that I was after the headmistress.

“Since they did not know why I was asking for Mrs. Appiah, I thought the women would give me the audience to tell them why I wanted to see the most powerful woman in-charge of one of the highly respected girl’s schools in the Eastern Region, apart from Saint Rose’s and Aburi Girls in Akwatia and Aburi, respectively.

“Even before I could finish my sentence, I was told by the obviously-looking uninterested women: “She is not around”.

“When I tried to follow up with a second request as to whom I can speak with in her absence, “anybody,” they again retorted. It was then that I realized the women, who I later learnt were tutors in the school, were just not ready to give out any information as far as Amanda’s death is concerned. They even refused to give out the name of the headmistress.

“Two of the three women later joined me in the taxi cab which I had hired to the school as they were already looking for one to take them to the Odumasi-Krobo town. They tried to keep their mouths shut throughout the less than 10 minutes’ drive to town. Surprisingly, when I mustered courage to ask the name of the headmistress, one of them said “we are all strangers”.

“Another interesting thing was to happen when I demanded the telephone number of the school from the “strangers”. They told me that the office phones in the school have not been functioning for over a year now. So I cannot reach Mrs. Appiah on phone”.

Meanwhile, a high -powered delegation from the Office of the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rev. Emmanuel Martey, last Wednesday visited the Burma Camp home of the Kornor’s to express their condolences to the bereaved family.

The delegation was led by the Director for Development of Social Services of the General Assembly, Rev. Oppong Wereko, which included the General Manager of Presbyterian Schools and Director of Education at the General Assembly, Mrs. Arthur Baidoo; the Chairperson for Dangbe and Tongu Presbytery, Rev. Teiko Dagadu.

They expressed shock about the whole situation, and pleaded with the family to take consolation in the fact that the deceased is resting in the bosom of her creator.

Rev Prof Emmanuel Martey promised the family that a full scale investigation will be conducted into the circumstances that led to the death of Miss Kornor, their only daughter.

The delegation, however, failed to explain the reason behind the school’s decision to sack the children from the school when they had paid all the expenses to cover their stay.

They told the family that the best person to answer that pressing question was the headmistress, who had promised to be part of the delegation but failed to show up. Similarly, when the school’s authorities went to console the bereaved family at Burma Camp last week Saturday, she was not present. The church delegation pleaded with the family to wait until the final funeral rites which has been scheduled for Saturday, September 25.

Before the close of the meeting, the mother of Amanda, Mrs. Charity Kornor, advised the authorities of the Presbyterian Church to weed out all miscreants who parade as teachers in the school in order to prevent such unpleasant occurrences.

The father of the deceased, Warrant Officer (WO 1) Eric Kornor still stands by his decision to take the school to court to serve as a lesson to others. His colleague Air Force soldiers were also later in the house to express their heart felt condolence to the family.