…Presidential Order To IGP To Re – Open Investigations Into Pre – 2000 Serial Murders Of Women Dead On Arrival

The New Crusading GUIDE can categorically say without fear of contradiction that President John Evans Atta Mills’ Administration is heading towards another blind alley with its latest directive to the Inspector - General of Police (IGP), Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye to re - open investigations into the serial murders of some 34 women prior to the 2000 elections.

The President says he believes further investigations into the case would help unravel the truth behind the bizarre episode and ensure that that dreadful act did not happen again in the country’s history.

But materials available to this paper by way of evidence suggests that the President is on the verge of committing a similar terrible faux pas as was the case in the 2009 re - investigations conducted by the BNI into the saga of the gruesome murder of a former Deputy Managing Director of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), Mr. Rokko Frimpong in 2007.

Although the signs were clear that the State was embarking upon a wild goose chase with claims that some five soldiers had been arrested and detained pending investigations into their alleged involvement in the murder of Mr. Rokko Frimpong, at the instance of a superior officer who was allegedly contracted by some former top governmental officials who wanted Mr. Frimpong dead, there was a spirited effort by the powers-that-be to pursue the matter in order give credence to allegations of contract killing, emanating from the fold of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) .

Subsequently, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, as predicted by The New Crusading GUIDE filed a nolle prosequi to discontinue the prosecution of the five soldiers, to put the matter to rest. The old docket prepared by the Police and pursued in court by the State was re – activated by the AG, after the embarrassing fiasco.

Yet in an analogous fashion, the President is again ordering a probe into the murder of the 34 women-a case which was thoroughly investigated by the Ghana Police Service under the National Democratic Congress (NDC -2) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP - 1) administrations, leading to the arrest and subsequent prosecution of Charles Papa Kwabena Ebo Quansah. Charles Quansah was arrested in February 2001 for the murder of his girlfriend, Joyce Boateng.

While in custody, Quansah was subsequently charged with the murder of another woman, Akua Serwaa who was found strangled near Kumasi Sports Stadium, in Kumasi on January 19, 1996 and subsequently confessed to the strangulation to death of nine women in the capital city of Accra.

These hard facts notwithstanding, it appears that certain elements who have a bloated image of their self importance within the ruling government and seem to have an axe to grind with the opposition NPP have succeeded in pushing the President to order investigations into the matter. Arming themselves with a rather simplistic and arrogant posture, this band of firebrand agitators and demagogues, including former President Jerry John Rawlings have since 2000 accused the NPP of being behind the brain behind the horrid murder of women in the country.

Political observers have however conjectured that the President’s directive to the IGP is a response to some agitations from within his party or better still a move to appease Mr. Rawlings.

The state-owned Daily Graphic, yesterday reported that “IN THE BIZARRE EPISODE THAT ROCKED THE COUNTRY BEFORE THE 2000 ELECTIONS, THERE WAS NO FUNERAL FOR ANY OF THE MURDERED WOMEN, NEITHER WAS ANY OF THE VICTIMS IDENTIFIED BY THEIR RELATIVES OR ANYONE, HEIGHTENING SUSPICION AND DEEPENING THE MYSTERY SURROUNDING THE EPISODE”.

BUT CONTRARY TO THIS WILD CLAIM, A GHANA POLICE DOCUMENTATION, PUBLISHED ON PAGE TWO OF THIS PAPER PROVES THAT MOST OF THE VICTIMS WERE DULY IDENTIFIED BY THEIR RELATIVES. INDEED POLICE CID RECORDS, AS PUBLISHED ON PAGE 2 OF THIS EDITION SHOW THAT ONLY SIX(6) OF THE VICTIMS WERE NOT IDENTIFIED. THESE OFFICIAL POLICE RECORDS WERE FIRST PUBLISHED BY THE CRUSADING GUIDE IN SEPTEMBER 2007, IN RESPONSE TO SIMILAR NDC PROPAGANDA DISTORTIONS AND FALLACIES.

Elaborating further on the President’s directive, Deputy Information Minister, Mr. Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa told this reporter in a telephone interview yesterday that “IT IS AN UNRESOLVED MATTER AND THE PRESIDENT IS INTERESTED IN UNRAVELING THE TRUTH. THE PRESIDENT IS INTERESTED IN THE TRUTH AND THAT IS ALL” When asked if the matter had not been properly investigated already, he admitted though that “THE NPP DID THEIR BEST” ARGUING THAT “OUT OF THE 34, GEORGE QUANSAH WAS CHARGED WITH THE DEATH OF HIS GIRLFRIEND AND SOME OTHER NINE WOMEN, MAKING THE NUMBER 10 SO THERE ARE 20 MORE DEATHS UNRESOLVED”

Asked if the President received any security briefing on the matter before issuing the directive, he said yes, explaining that “HIS SECURITY APPARATUS HAD BRIEFED HIM SINCE HE ASSUMED OFFICE AND NOT JUST ON THIS MATTER BUT SOME OTHER UNRESOLVED KILLINGS LIKE THE ISSAH MOBILLA CASE, YAA-NAA AND OTHERS”. Mr. Ablakwa refuted speculations that the President was just bowing to pressure from the likes of Mr. Rawlings and other NDC agitators, saying that “THE PRESIDENT WORKS ACCORDING TO HIS OWN TIMETABLE AND NOT BOWING TO PRESSURE FROM ANYBODY OR ANY QUARTERS”.

Please stay tuned for some ‘play – backs’ on the ‘Quansah Serial Murders’ saga in subsequent editions of The New Crusading GUIDE