Kwesi Yankah: ‘Awengaa’ teacher on the loose as women march in protest

Two years ago, my sleep was disturbed by news of child rapists on the prowl disguised as customary rites. Here they come again this time in partisan costume.

Listen to an excerpt from my write-up, 2024, on ‘Awengaa:’

We were careful those days in Duakwa not to be shamed and mocked as ‘Awengaa.’ A thirty-year-old man who had ‘slept’ with an underage girl; he was Awengaa. A forty-year-old having his way with a class four girl; they tagged him ‘Awengaa.’ He had grey hair, and the girl was only eight: Awengaa. So young girls took to their heels when they saw him from afar: ‘they say if you cross his red line, hmmmm.’ Little girls would giggle and scamper off. In cases where the victim was really a baby, the idiom carried a literal meaning: Awengaa: ‘a predator of crying babies.’ Paedophile!

“It was a virtual taboo, a serious cultural breach. If caught, the offender would be paraded in the streets, gong gong, with songs of shame and boos trailing: ‘Waware ne ba, Akwasi,’ the song stigmatising the bad man. ‘He has slept with a girl young enough to be his daughter.’ The publicity was to caution the innocent one who might mistakenly make an Awengaa’s home a temporary day care: ‘Look after my girl-child until I return from the farm.’

Times have changed. The notorious Awengaa this time may be Your beloved Teacher Mensah;’ worse still, Master Mensah himself: the Big Boss among the Teachers. In Ogyakromian lingo, the Big man ‘himself himself;’ the alpha and omega! The school’s ultimate role model caught pants down! So then it could no longer be said of Master: ‘Suffer the children to come unto Master, for they shall be safe.’Master is no longer a safe refuge! No longer a Head Master, but a Bad Master.

Under his care, he could give the kids a bad touch when nobody is watching, or lure them to a secret site and defile them. Not in those days; not Teacher Biney, not Teacher Ansah. Whether in primary or high school, the pattern gets worse and worse: mmɔndaa at school—rape, defilement, having your way with little school girls. The situation gets uglier when higher school authorities summon an Awengaa for sanctions. Hear the authorities’ sanctions for child rape: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, as punishment for this serious offence, we have decided to transfer Awengaa to another school… this time to a village without electricity!’

Here, the announced penalty is indeed a certificate of merit: a handshake meant to help Awengaa spread the virus in darkness! Other times, Awengaa himself, once caught and suspended, may decide to leave the classroom voluntarily and go to the safe haven of politics, where no one checks backgrounds. If he has failed as a custodian of underage girls, he may be a great Party ‘Chaaarman!’

Elsewhere, a concerned local community upset by the soft penalty may take a landmark decision: ‘Henceforth, all authorities that give any Awengaa a slap on the wrist, instead of a harsh penalty, shall be declared as suspects themselves. They are all Awengaa…. Awengaa sɔɔɔn: Monkye wɔn!

So why wasn't the long delay after the Obuasi scandal surprising? Remember the calendar of events. April 2025: suspicion that the new Headmaster was indeed a Bad Master; February 2026: a formal petition about him is sent to authorities.March: multiple reports about him; July/August: concerned old students petition authorities; August: students go on a rampage on campus and attack the ‘Bad Master.’ Education Ministry launches an Inquiry; on 14 October, Obuasi Awengaa is suspended…and an eternal CID probe begins. By the end of October, the everlasting probe continues with no end in sight.

Since 2025, Awengaa has allegedly defiled several girls, hiding beneath his zip a total of 19 victims. Pɔr pɔr pɔr pɔr19; enough for a Guinness Book of Awengaa, or a Ballon d’Or! Surprisingly, Ghana, your beloved country, is mute, arms folded! No word on the investigations, not even an invite like, ‘Bad Master, please see the police.’ Madam Lydia Donkor, Head of CID. We haven’t seen your ‘red eyes’ yet. Where is your magic that swiftly brought down Salomey from Techiman while investigating ‘Ghana Jollof '? Remember, that lady, Salomey, had three kids but found herself painfully separated from them by 370 kilometres. Despite the distance, the arrest was swift. What then slows down the arrest of a suspected paedophile?

Auntie Lydia, Salomey’s youngest child was only five years. You yourself are a mother of twins. That lady was in remand for a month without her kids; and kids without mummy for a month. In the case of the rape victims in Obuasi, while they and their families reel in pain, the predator is comfortably at rest, not on remand, nor on bail, nor in jail, nor in court. Is the state pampering a paedophile?

Auntie Lydia, Aww! Asɛm yi yɛ yaw! The rape victims could be the future of your own twin girls or anybody’s daughters desperately crying for swift justice. Yet your outfit is not in a hurry, and eyebrows are raised.

So then, our verdict. The education authorities who have been spectators for 16 months, pampering a suspected paedophile: A case to answer. Director CID, seeing no evil, hearing no evil; Mother of twin girls, there is a case to answer. Venue? The bar of public opinion.

Then this bombshell that belittles all else. The case of an apolitical activist who, on camera, plays down the rape case in a blatant self-confession. Hear his words: ‘Why are we behaving as if it is not normal to rape? How many of you have never raped a woman?” Those were the words of a ruling-party communicator. So far, no denial, no condemnation; no distancing.

The loud silence simply means, ‘Say it Loud, Brother! Rape is normal.’

It’s quite clear this frightening rape case has taken a political turn. The suspect being a party activist, a guilty verdict may give his party the dreaded name: Awengaa People’s Party. The Opposition may be waiting to justify the name change, so they'll keep pussyfooting until Harmattan winds blow the case away. If the Awengaa suspect is proven innocent, Tweaaa, I will join the all-night Miracle service.

Are we sacrificing our kids' future for political power? Oh my God! Where are the Mrs Mary Grants of yesteryear? Our beloved Jane Naana? The majority women’s caucus? We need words from within that call the Reset team to order, and simply plead: ‘JM, please don’t let down your children.’ The last time I heard from the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Protection, the Minister on TV was speaking English in the future tense! And Haruna, the Minister for Education: English grammar in the future tense. The Vice Presidency? English grammar in the future tense.

Happily, I hear the bells ringing for a peaceful demo this week. The red eyes of women activists seek Justice for our kids

In the meantime, please keep our girl kids off the streets. Awengaa Teacher is still at large.

The writer can be contacted via email at kyankah@ashesi.edu.gh