Akufo-Addo, Police can’t be trusted anymore in Kidnapped girls’ case – Lawyer

President Nana Akufo-Addo and the Ghana Police Service can no longer be trusted to bring finality to the case of the three kidnapped Takoradi girls, private legal practitioner Edudzi Tamakloe has said.

He argued the discovery of some body parts, which some say, could be that of the three girls, clearly defeats the hopes the Police and the President have been giving the families of the girls all along.

“We are beginning to think that these are their remains in the septic tanks, you cannot trust this president, the level of dishonesty is just annoying and I am so disappointed this morning,” he stated on TV3 New Day Thursday.

Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department, Maame Tiwaa Addo- Danquah on April 2, 2019 announced the police knew where the girls were and was going to return them to their families safely.

After calls on her to reunite the girls with their families heightened, she backtracked on her infamous ‘we know where they are’ statement, claiming it was only to give hope to the families of the victims.

But Mr Tamakloe who is also a member of the National Democratic Congress, did not understand why President Akufo-Addo and some security officials would give the families hope of finding the girls only to later give them another indication to suggest they may be dead.

That, he stated, raises issues about the President’s credibility

However, the Public Affairs officer at the Energy Ministry, Nana Damoah, challenged the assertion by Mr Tamakloe that the police had been incompetent in the investigation process.



He underscored the need for the nation to impress on the families to submit samples of their DNA to the police to help the police to establish whether the human remains discovered by the police are that of the girls.

He said that will help to bring the issues get “to a conclusive end”.

Mr. Damoah further urged the families to cooperate with the investigative authorities adding that the government and the police are working tirelessly on the matter.

“What I think we as a nation should do is, focus on two things: one, helping the families through this difficult moments and number two, ensuring that we – together with the police – help solve this very difficult problem of ours.”

Background

The three girls: Ruth Quayson, Priscilla Blessing Bentum and Priscilla Mantebea Koranchie went missing in August 2018.



Samuel Udoetuk-Wills, a Nigerian, was arrested in December last year as the prime suspect and later in June this year another Nigerian was arrested as complicit. They are currently being tried for kidnapping.

A search by the Police last Friday near an uncompleted building at Kansaworodo in which the prime suspect lived led to the discovery and retrieval of human remains in a septic tank.

Later this Tuesday, a fourth body part was discovered in another location where the suspect was said to have lived before.

These remains, the Police said, will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for a DNA test, and have thus requested for DNA samples from the family of the kidnapped girls.