Attorney-General opposes bid to remove Wesley Girls board from religious right case

The Attorney General's Department has asked the Supreme Court to reject an attempt by the Board of Governors of Wesley Girls’ High School to remove itself from a constitutional case over alleged violations of the religious rights of Muslim students.

In its response, the state argues that the board is a real and existing legal body and can therefore properly be sued.

The position was set out in an affidavit filed on 10 April, in which Deputy Attorney-General Dr Justice Srem-Sai maintained that the board has legal standing as a defendant in the case. The filing says the board is an existing body of persons and is therefore capable of suing and being sued.

The constitutional action itself was filed on 23 December 2024 by private legal practitioner Shafic Osman, who is asking the Supreme Court to examine claims that Muslim students at Wesley Girls’ High School have faced restrictions in the practice of their religion.

In that suit, he named the Board of Governors of the school as the first defendant, with the Ghana Education Service as the second and the Attorney-General as the third.

The board is now seeking to be struck out of the case, arguing that it lacks the legal capacity to be sued. That argument was formally placed before the court through a motion filed on 16 March 2026 by the school’s assistant headmaster.

The Attorney-General has responded by urging the court to dismiss that application.

In an affidavit sworn by Mary Yeboah, an Administrative Secretary at the Attorney-General’s office, the state argues first that Wesley Girls’ is a public senior high school. Secondly, it says boards of governors are mandatory under the legal regime governing such institutions and are established specifically to ensure that schools are run according to the rules and regulations of the Ghana Education Service.

Thirdly, the state insists that the Wesley Girls board exists both in fact and in law, contrary to the board’s own claim.

To reinforce that point, the affidavit lists the members of the board, which is chaired by Very Rev. Prof. Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, the current Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, alongside other representatives from the school, the GES, the Methodist education system, staff, parents and local authorities.

The Attorney-General also takes the position that legal personality is not confined to incorporated institutions alone. In the state’s view, even an unincorporated body of persons may be sued where the law and facts support that conclusion.

The practical effect of the state’s argument is that it wants the board to remain in the case so the substantive constitutional issues can be heard without interruption.

Those issues go to the centre of a long-running national debate over how public mission schools should balance their religious heritage with the constitutional rights of students from other faith backgrounds.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear the board’s application on 21 April 2026.