DSP Tehoda dismissed

Mrs. Gifty Mawuenyegah Tehoda, the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) who was indicted in the cocaine-turned-baking-soda saga, which rocked the country last year, has been dismissed from the Ghana Police Service.

DSP Tehoda, who was a Deputy Head of the Police Commercial Crime Unit, was axed by the Police Central Disciplinary Board on August 28, 2012.

This followed the service inquiry which found her guilty of misconduct, a source close to the Police Headquarters disclosed to The Ghanaian Times yesterday.

The Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) implicated DSP Tehoda in the circumstance leading to the swapping of the 1.20 kilogrammes of cocaine exhibit which formed the basis for the trial of one Nana Ama Martin by an Accra Circuit Court.

The report of the BNI, which was tasked by the late President J.E.A Mills to investigate the case recommended that DSP Tehoda be held liable for the disappearance of the cocaine, on the grounds that she held nine meetings with Nana Martin, while in custody at the Police Headquarters.

“She (Tehoda) tried to deceive her subordinates in-charge of the custody of the accused by indicating in the station diary that she needed her (Martin) for further investigations, when she had nothing to do with the matter. Clearly, her motives were not honourable,” the report said, in part.

Following from the report, DSP Tehoda was interdicted on January 18, 2012 by the Police Service pending investigations into her alleged misconduct by the Police criminal Investigations Department.

She was subsequently charged with misconduct, contrary to section 17 (K) of the Police Act of 1970 and tried by a Police adjudicating team which received witnesses involved in the case, including DSP Tehoda, who appeared with her lawyer.

Speaking to the Times on condition of anonymity, the source said DSP Tehoda “was found guilty and punished with dismissal from the Service. On October 10, she was served with a copy of the result of the proceedings, by the Unit Commander”.

According to the source, DSP Tehoda is entitled to petition against her dismissal within six weeks from the time of dismissal, under Regulation 23 of the Police Service (Disciplinary Proceedings) Regulations 1974 (L.I. 993).

The source told the Ghanaian Times that the charge of misconduct was a major offence under the Police Regulations, which attracts the punitive sentence of dismissal.

Meanwhile, DSP Tehoda, who was on February 6 charged with abetment of crime to wit stealing of cocaine was on June 28 discharged unconditionally, by the Accra Circuit Court .

It followed a request by state prosecutors to the court to “unconditionally discharge” her on grounds of new leads which had resulted in some arrests.

She had earlier been put before the court on January 17 on a charge, which was flawed by the Human Rights Court in Accra, following a habeas corpus application initiated by her lawyers.

DSP Mawuenyegah-Tehoda was arrested on December 29, 2011 for her alleged involvement in the cocaine which turned into sodium bicarbonate under a strange circumstance leading to the acquittal and discharge of Nana Ama Martins by an Accra Circuit Court on December 13, 2011.