St Monica’s Holy Kiss: Anglican Priest Dismissed
The dismissal of Reverend Father Obeng Larbi from the school follows a crunch managerial meeting on his alleged sexual misconduct
Reverend Father Balthazar Obeng Larbi, the Anglican priest taped kissing three students of the St Monica’s College of Education in Asante Mampong, has been relieved of his duties as chaplain for the school.
The acting Principal of St Monica’s College of Education, Dr Okyere Korankye, told the media: “The church has directed that he should be relieved of all his clerical and pastoral services to the school while investigation is ongoing.”
Father Larbi allegedly kissed the final-year students for their years of service reading the Bible during church services.
Some civil society organisations say the priest should be prosecuted in accordance with Ghana Education Service’s (GES) anti-sexual harassment policy.
On their part, education think tank Africa Education Watch has petitioned the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to investigate the Anglican priest for openly kissing female students of school and sanction him accordingly.
“We are by this letter petitioning your office to conduct an external investigation into the conduct of Father Balthazar Obeng Larbi and sanction appropriately, while pronouncing on whether or not the practice of kissing students in public is an acceptable conduct in a tertiary institution,” Kofi Asare, the executive director of Africa Education Watch said in the petition.
We’ll deal with priest, says Anglican Church
Meanwhile, the Anglican Church, Ghana says it has started investigation into the taped conduct of its priest and promises to mete out appropriate sanctions in accordance with the norms and values of the Anglican Church.
“The Church is saddened by the news and wish to state expressly that, thorough investigation has immediately been instituted into the matter and the action of the said priest would be dealt with in accordance with the norms and values of the Anglican Communion where morality is extremely revered in the church.”
Credit: Asaase Radio
