A baby girl believed to be one week old was last Tuesday evening abandoned by her teenage mother at Site 19, a Tema Community One suburb.

Following the mother’s action, the Community One District Police Station Commander, Superintendent Gabriel Amankwah Dokyi, appealed to members of the general public, especially those living in the area, to help the security agency with information that could lead to the arrest of the teenage mother.

Narrating the incident to this paper, Superintendent Dokyi noted that the baby was abandoned at a porridge vendor’s place, where the mother had earlier gone to purchase some porridge.

She was said to have arrived at the vendor’s place around 7:00pm on Tuesday April 23, 2013.

According to the Commander, the mother, who is believed to be between the ages of 18 and 19, arrived at the scene with her baby girl strapped to her back.

She purchased the porridge and after consuming it right there, asked a six-year-old granddaughter of Hajia Hawa, the ‘koko’ seller, to give her a hand with the baby, whilst she called a sister to also come and buy the porridge.

Hajia Hawa disapproved of the action of the teenage mother and suggested to her that her granddaughter was too young to carry the baby. She therefore advised her to hand over the baby to her so the teenage mother could go and fetch the said sister.

“Hajia was compelled to bring the baby to my station several hours after waiting in vain. The said the teenage mother reportedly failed to return for her baby," Superintendent Dokyi said.

"We believe she deliberately abandoned the baby with Hajia and has no plans of returning for the baby."

The baby, he said, had meanwhile been handed over to the department of Social Welfare at the Tema General Hospital to ensure that she was well taken care of until the mother was found.

He pointed out that the incident was currently being investigated by his station.

When this paper followed it up at the Tema General Hospital, Madam Esther Gyandoh, the lady in charge of the hospital’s branch of Social Welfare, confirmed the incident and told this paper that the baby was yet to be handed over to a medical doctor for observation and screening.

According to her, as soon as that was done, the baby would be taken to the Osu Children’s Home in Accra, where she would be kept.

She appealed to members of the public, especially young women, to desist from the habit of abandoning their babies.

Such practices, she said, were very bad and should not be encouraged in society.