General News of Wednesday, 24 March 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Joe Biden’s advisor to join fight for dreadlocked Achimota Student

Maanaa Myers with his son Tyrone Iras Marhguy Maanaa Myers with his son Tyrone Iras Marhguy

Maanaa Myers, the mother of one of the two Rastafarian students who were refused admission into Achimota has said that the family has received tremendous support in their bid to have the school overturn its decision.

According to her, the family has been commended by persons and institutions within and outside the country who are unhappy with developments so far.

One of such persons she says is Adjoa Asamoah, the Ghanaian lady who served as Advisor on Black Engagement in the Joe Biden campaign.

She claims to have received a message from the renowned civil right activist, urging the family on in their fight against discrimination.

“Internationally people are watching us too. We’ve got a message from Adjoa Asamoah. She says she will throw her support behind us. She said they are currently doing one or two things and when they are settled she will get to us to fight from that side.”

“It’s not going to be a small fight,” she said on Kofi TV on Tuesday, March 23, 2021.

She added that “his father has lived in Ghana for over 23 years and brought diasporans here. The majority of them are not happy with what is going on and he has vowed to discourage them from coming here. 200 of them are expected to arrive and he has promised to preach against Akufo-Addo’s Year of Return.”

Maanaa Myer further revealed the discussions that ensued between the parents, the school and the Ghana Education Service on Monday, March 22, 2021.

She said that the GES came into the meeting with an entrenched stance and laid before the family the options available to them if their child does not crop his hair.

“In fact, the director from GES went to the constitution and then quoted about the child’s right to freedom and asked that so if they say child’s right to freedom does that mean that if the school regulates that the children should sleep at 8:00, the child can say he won’t sleep. To me, it was very ridiculous for him to have said that. Then they also talked about Muslims who would want their girl children to wear Hijab to school. What about that? And if traditionalists want to dress a certain way to school, would that be possible?

It was like a coup, everybody on the panel spoke against us and even the demeanour they came to the meeting with was very intimidating. There was no room for any talk so I don’t even know why they invited us. They just came to tell us their positions,” she narrated.