Ada Residents Live in Fear….As Police Turn Down Distress Calls

The Ada Foah police command on Thursday 14 June, 2018 failed to live up to its statutory responsibility as its men reportedly failed to respond to distress calls from residents who were being robbed at gunpoint.

One of the victims, Mrs. Florence Afe’togbor, narrating her ordeal to THE PUBLISHER, said the robbers descended on them at about 2 am and were virtually breaking down her security gate with metal rods. She said sensing danger, she made several telephone calls to the Ada Foah police command and the police special ‘191 number’, but there was no response.

She said even though the Tema regional police command responded to the 191 call, she was told they could not help her because the regional headquarters in Tema was too far from Ada.

Florence, who incidentally is the wife of the 2016 New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Candidate in the Ada East Constituency, said she had to jump through an exit opening to knock on neighbours’s doors for help.

Another victim of that robbery operation, who managed to escape, and rushed to the Ada Foah police station to report the incident was reported told by the officer on duty that Ada was not a robbery-prone area.

Residents said when they called the station officer, he also turned them down, saying he had no fuel in the only vehicle around, and that the driver was also not in town.

Mrs. Afe’togbor, who works with the Ghana Education Service, said after two hours of the robbery operation, the robbers made a way with GH¢4000, CFA 8500, $1000 and HG¢1000 in coins.

The Ada-Foah incident was followed by another shoot-to-kill robbery case at Kasseh-Ada three days later when members of the Macedonia Prayer Church were attacked by 2 gun-wielding robbers. The masked robbers ordered the congregants to surrender all their monies and mobile phones before shooting one of them.

The Ada-East District police commander, Superintendent Timothy Dassah, who was tight-lipped on the Ada Foah incident, however, confirmed the killing at Kasseh. He said the robbers shot sporadically into the congregation killing one member, a 48-year old Megbenya Adzamade, instantly.

He said the body had since been deposited at the Ada-East District Hospital morgue for autopsy while investigations continued.

By: Daniel Akpaloo Nyorngmor