Minister Snatches Taxi At Gun-Point

The most logical conclusion arrived at by those privileged to witness the bizarre incident at Suhum last week Sunday, July 15, 2001, was that the Datsun 140J cab with registration number GR 3006 K had been hijacked from its driver at gun point by armed robbers.

But the circumstances under which the vehicle found its way to the residence of the Central Regional Minister later revealed that the supposed armed robbers of the taxi were no other persons than Central Regional Minister Isaac E. Edumadze, his personal bodyguard, and official driver.

How the taxi ended up at the residence of the Minister in Cape Coast in the Central Region from Suhum in the Eastern Region reveals a grotesque story. Chronicle gathered that at about 8:30p.m. July 15, the taxi, which plies Suhum and surrounding areas, was on its usual rounds, heading towards the Suhum township when in the process it crossed a cross-country four-wheel drive heading towards Accra.

In the process, there were exchanges of words between the occupants of the four-wheel drive and the taxi driver, after which the cab driver sped off towards town, with the cross-country vehicle hot on its tail. Chronicle learned that the bigger vehicle caught up with the taxi in no time, forcing it to a halt.

Instantaneously, an armed man got down and started firing warning shots. Sensing danger, the cab driver and his passengers bolted from the cab and fled for their lives, leaving the taxi at the mercy of their attackers.

Chronicle enquiries have established that the occupants of the cross-country vehicle were the Central Regional Minister, Hon. Isaac E. Edumadze, his bodyguard, and driver. Eyewitness accounts confirmed by the Regional Minister in a phone interview last Friday afternoon revealed that he ordered his driver to take over the cab after the occupants fled.

The Minister’s driver then drove the taxi to a nearby fuel station at Asamankese and filled it with 10 gallons of petrol. He and his master then headed off to cape Coast, with the Regional Minister driving ahead of his driver whom he had ordered to drive the taxi. Several days later after the incident at Suhum and despite claims by the Regional Minister that he had reported the case to the Cape Coast MTTU, the taxi was spotted at his residence at Cape Coast.

The Minister moved the vehicle to the MTTU office after the Chronicle had made initial contact with him on the issue Friday. Interestingly, the incident in question took place miles inside the Eastern Region and several police stations away from the Central Regional MTTU office. Explaining why he drove the car off to his residence, Minister Edumadze told the Chronicle during Friday’s phone interview that the taxi driver crossed his vehicle, nearly resulting in an accident.

He said when he started complaining of the bad driving, the cab driver started making insulting gestures at him. As to why he did not report the incident to the Police at Suhum or Asamankese but rather drove the car all the way from Suhum to Cape Coast after he had by-passed scores of police stations, he said it was too late for him to do that.

As a result, he said he decided to send the car to his base. He, however, argued that his bodyguards never fired the warning shots that resulted in the driver and passengers on board the taxi fleeing for their lives.

Edumadze also revealed that the owner of the car has approached him to release the car to him, but he has refused until he produced the driver. Chronicle gathered that after the taxi driver escaped, he reported the incident to his car owner, one Ransford Coffie, a.k.a. “Sika ye mogya”, that night. The cab owner in turn filed a complaint with the Suhum police as well as the regional police administration in Accra.

As a result, the car owner, driver and the police all assumed that the car had been seized by armed-robbers. But as the owner combed Suhum, Asamankese, Accra, and various parts of the country for his car, someone informed him that the man who hijacked the car was a big government official from Cape Coast. Upon the tip-off, the owner dashed to the ancient Central regional capital, where he continued the search from one institution to another, Chronicle learned..

The cab owner’s lucky break came when someone hinted him that the Regional Minister attended the funeral of the late New Patriotic Party (NPP) General Secretary, Agyenim Boateng, in the Ashanti Region, and returned on Sunday and might have been the officer who seized the car.

Upon this information, the car owner set off to the Minister’s residence, where he saw his car parked in front of the residence.