DCOP Kofi Boakye framed me up but saved my life - Ataa Ayi

For the first time ,Ghana’s most famed convicted armed robber has revealed that he never personally rooted for his famous yet spine-chilling sobriquet, Ataa Ayi.

Born Ayi Ayittey, the convicted robber said he was given that notorious name by then Greater Accra Police commander, DCOP Kofi Boakye.

“DCOP Kofi Boakye gave me the name Ataa Ayi” he told Joy FM’s morning show host, Kojo Yankson

“DCOP Kofi Boakye put a talisman on my neck. I had then been arrested. What could I do?...Whenever I opened my mouth, I was tortured,” he alleged.

Ataa Ayi recalled how he later became a household name in Ghana and the genesis of his robbery profession.

“I was born in Adabraka. I did start schooling but then my mother travelled to the UK....peer pressure from friends resulted in my dropping out of school...the car I was then operating with as a cab got involved in an accident and a friend offered me a job as a driver on an operation they were about to embark on. I didn't know it was a robbery operation.

“I got involved in "Car boot"- when someone follows you from the bank and robs you when you park. All I did was to simply drive the car. When I started the life of crime, I left my family,” he said

Although he is alleged to have gunned down some of his robbery victims, Ataa Ayi said, “I wasn't that trigger-happy...I was just a driver...I have never shot anyone.”

Adding that, “With armed robbery operations, you either go to prison, die or succeed. We preferred to think positive-that we would succeed and come home safely.”

Despite living quite a lavish lifestyle from the robbery proceeds, the convicted criminal was also said to be very generous to society.

“I used the money I made from robbery to help people, paid school fees for some....etc. I wished I had a more legitimate means of helping them,” he added.

According to him, he was arrested when his sister's daughter reported him to the police for assault.

“I pummeled her because she used some offensive language against me. She was disrespectful,” he said.

While in police custody, Ataa Ayi recounted that an officer told him “they were better off killing me” adding, “I was tortured into writing a statement and signing documents I knew nothing about”.

Ataa Ayi, who is the national leader of prisoners in the country, said though most of the witnesses who testified against him at his trial committed perjury, he was happy to have been sentenced.

“The accounts of those who testified against me in court were largely false but the judge still decided to convict me...I was happy when I was sentenced to prison because I might have been killed if I was a free person. I was, however, unhappy with circumstances surrounding the sentence. I still pray and have hope that one day, I will get out of prison. If I was the child of a minister, I doubt I would have been given such a long prison sentence. I was framed for the robberies because no one cared about me enough to speak up on my behalf,” he said.

Currently serving 160 years at the Ankaful Maximum security prisons in Cape Coast, the Central Region capital, Ataa Ayi described as discriminatory, the Justice for All Programme, instituted to decongest the prisons.

The Justice for All Programme, funded by the UK government's Department for International Development (DFID), supports reform of the justice sector. The programme focuses on building the capacity, accountability and responsiveness of key policing justice and anti-corruption institutions and supporting them to work together, alongside civil society and oversight institutions, as part of a coherent, coordinated sector.

To him, it was unfair how the Programme only shows leniency to remand prisoners but not convicted ones like himself and appealed to administrators of the programme to take a second look at how it is operated.

"If I may ask, what is the meaning of 'Justice for All'? If someone says justice for all, it means if you in prison you also [a part of the potential beneficiaries].

"Sometimes I don't understand why they say justice for all but they will come only for the remand prisoners and we the convicts they don't care about us.

"We are also pleading with the government that [it] should see to that issue for us. We are not forcing them, but we are pleading," he said.

The notorious armed robber turned church leader at the maximum security correctional facility said, “If I come out of prison, I would like to be a great pastor”.

Remorsefully, he said, “I regret what I have done. I have repented from all my sins. The Kingdom of the Lord is near and can come at any time.”

He, however, has one urgent request; that the Ashanti Regional Police Commander DCOP Kofi Boakye pay him a visit.

“I would like DCOP Kofi Boakye to come and visit me. He saved my life by bringing me here. May God richly bless him,” he said.