I Won’t Resign! …CID Boss Fights Back

The Director-General of the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID), COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah has broken her long silence on the pressure mounting on her to resign from her job.

According to her, her priority is on the resolution of the Takoradi kidnapping case and not calls for her to resign.

In the view of the beleaguered CID Boss, she would not waste time thinking about any possible resignation at the moment.

Tiwaa Addo-Danquah’s comments does not come as a surprise following several months of agitations in the wake of the three missing Takoradi girls saga raising doubts over the police persistent assurance in finding the kidnapped girls.

Tiwaa Must Go!

In June this year, the families of the three missing Takoradi girls in the Western Region had demanded the dismissal of the CID Boss in 21 days.

According to them, the CID boss has failed to effectively handle the case involving their missing children.

In their view, the results of finding the missing girls-Ruth Quayson, 18; Priscilla Mantsebea Koranchie, 15; and Priscilla Blessing Bentum 21, have been pain and grieve for them.

John Entsie, Convener of a group calling itself the Western Youth for Justice, in a petition read on behalf of the protestors during a demonstration said the CID boss must be fired not later than 21 days, failing which they will besiege the office of the President at the Flagstaff House in Accra.

Just at the heels of that call in May two groups, the Democratic Forum and Fali Foundation International also rooted for the CID Boss’ exit from the Service.

The groups had said in separate statements, that the under pressure CID Boss must shush from further commenting on the missing girls, apologise to their families and Ghanaians and abdicate the job as she lacks the integrity to continue to head the Department.

The Fali Foundation said: “We are not only disappointed in the Ghana Police Service’s Criminal Investigative Department Director-General COP Maame Tiwa Addo Danquah ,we are seriously outraged and baffled with the level of insensitivity and lack of tact in her recent comments that her earlier assurance that they knew the whereabouts of the three kidnapped Takoradi girls was actually…”

Tiwaa Replies

But speaking at an event organized by the Common Wealth Africa yesterday, the CID Boss used the occasion to answers all those calling for her head.

“When you have everybody calling for your resignation and other things, the question you need to ask is, is that what will solve the problem? There is a problem for us to solve and that is my focus.”

Tiwaa Continued: “I have to focus and bring whatever situation we have to the conclusive stages not to waste time thinking about whether you want to resign or you don’t want to resign. So when it is time for me to leave, I will leave because somebody was there and I am here and another person will be here.”

However, after the human remains were found in a sewage system near the home of the main suspect in the kidnappings, Samuel Udoetuk Wills, calls for the resignation of COP Addo-Danquah were renewed.

The families feel the CID had been offering false assurances over the past eight months during which investigations have been ongoing.

“Government has a lot of questions to answer not only to the families but to a lot of families who have girls. How do you basically assure families with 18-year-old and 20-year-old girls that they can go about their business in safety? And the irony of this is that we found the Canadian girls but we couldn’t find our own girls.”

In April, the CID Boss assured families of the missing persons that the police knew the whereabouts of the three kidnapped girls.

“We know where the girls are,” she stated, a comment that attracted widespread criticisms.

The following month, the CID Boss said her comments were misunderstood and only meant to give the families hope.

DNA

So far the police forensic team has begun taking DNA samples of the four missing Takoraid girls from their family member’s, following the discovery of some four sets of human remains recently after an initial resistance.

The team will then prepare the samples and begin the process to establish the relationship or otherwise between the human remains found close to the former home of the prime suspect, Samuel Udoetuk-Willis and the DNA samples obtained from the family of the girls.

 

 

Story By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson