March 27, 2024 5:17 am

Appeal of Achimota School and Rastafarians’ case: Father suspects Alumni’s manipulation

The father of Tyrone Marghuy, one of two Rastafarian boys who were in a legal tussle with Achimota School over gaining admission, believes some Old Student’s Association members may be engineering the case return to court.

The timing of the filing of an appeal by the Attorney General and the School at a time when his son has even been added to the school’s “squad for the National Maths and Science Quiz for the next two years” creates room for suspicion, according to Tereo Marghuy.

“If they had filed the appeal shortly after the ruling, it would have made sense, but now he [Tyrone Marghuy] has been in the school, and they have even added him to the squad for the National Maths and Science Quiz for the next two years…It is not really okay. I think there are some people behind the scenes who are not working in favour of the school,” he explained.

The boys, Tyrone Iras Marhguy and Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea, had dragged the Achimota School Board of Governors, the Education Minister, Ghana Education Service (GES), and the Attorney General to court for refusing to enroll them with the explanation that they had to shave their dreadlocks in accordance with the School’s regulations.

However, on May 31, 2021, the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo ruled that the fundamental human rights of the two students cannot be limited by the rules in question.

Justice Gifty Agyei explained that she does not think the Achimota School and proponents, including GES and the Attorney General’s Department, have made a compelling argument as to why those two students should not be admitted, especially given their rights to education as well as their rights to express their religious freedom.

Nearly four months down the line, the school and the Attorney-General’s department have filed an appeal challenging a High Court’s ruling that compelled the School to admit the two Rastafarian students.

Reacting to this on Tuesday, Tyrone’s father says he is not surprised by the development because “that loss they had was something that they couldn’t take.”

“How could a whole Attorney-General be in favour of the ruling and suddenly not be in favour of the ruling. I think it is something that is happening in the background, behind the scene, that makes them think they should go for the appeal. I suspect that it is the old students behind the scenes. I know most Ghanaians are in our favour,” he told Accra-based Citi FM.

Meanwhile, the other part of the duo, Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea, is currently enrolled at the Ghana International School (GIS) on scholarship.

While expressing confidence in another legal victory, Ras Nkrabea said he focused on getting his son settled in the new school, which accepted him with open arms.

Source: Myjoyonline

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