Former Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayensuano constituency, Samuel Ayeh-Paye, has lambasted former Member of Parliament(MP) for Kumbungu Constituency, Ras Mubarak and other critics for teasing Achimota School over a court ruling that the school should accept some Rastafarian students.
Two Rastafarian students were told to shave their dreadlocks before they will be accepted into the Achimota school.
The school's decision infuriated the parents of the Rasta students who then dragged the Achimota School, Attorney General, the Education Minister and Ghana Education Service to the High Court seeking ''an order directed at [Achimota School] to immediately admit or enroll the applicant to continue with his education unhindered".
To them, the order for their children to shave their dreadlocks flouts their "Rastafarian religious inclination, beliefs and culture'' and is also a violation of their ''fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the 1992 constitution''.
The court ruled in favour of the students and ordered the school to admit them.
Following the ruling, the former Kumbungu MP is said to have made statements to the effect that the Rasta students have flawed the Board of the Achimota school.
Ras Mubarak, speaking on Peace News, said; "This will also go a long way to affirm the country's democracy and its respect for human rights."
Also speaking in an interview on Neat FM, he argued; ''This is what Bob Marley has been preaching for years but a lot of people are still incarcerated. If the whites are allowed to have their hairstyle in Achimota school, why disallow others because they are blacks.''
“These kids are the future; hence, we can't stop their right to education just because they are Rastafarians. Will their locks affect their brains in any way?” he questioned.
Reacting to the issue, Samuel Ayeh-Paye advised Ras Mubarak and his likes to stop ridiculing Achimota school.
According to him, what they are doing could make the teachers and management of the school behave hostile towards the Rasta students as they attend the school.
He wondered why an ex-Member of Parliament would make such statements stressing it's an insult on the Achimota School's Board for any person to think the Rasta students have flawed them.
"Let us stop sparking things that will result in anger which will make the children face a hostile situation on campus. We don't want a situation where the children will go to the school but the teachers and their classmates won't laugh with them . . . Those ridiculing the teachers, Board, PTA should stop this behavior," he said on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo''.
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