Former Chief of Defense Staff, Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah has asked head of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police to stop talking and issuing statements anyhow and work towards the rescue of the missing Takoradi girls.

Speaking Saturday on TV3’s current affairs news analysis show, “The Key Points”, Mr. Nunoo-Mensah advised the Ghana Police Service to join hands with sister security agencies for a seamless operation.

“People are talking anyhow. This is not the police service of old that I know. Things are just not coordinated,” he asserted.

A public announcement by CID boss, Maame Tiwaa Addo-Danquah that the Ghana Police knew the whereabouts of the three kidnapped girls and that they would be rescued and reunited with their families, has drawn the ire and condemnation of well-meaning Ghanaians especially after nothing meaningful has so far been heard or done.

Mr. Nunoo-Mensah was livid with anger that there seemed to be a degeneration in professional approach and competence of some aspects of security operations in Ghana. He advised the Ghana Police Service to get a professional spokesperson so that only factual statements can be made in the public domain.

He described the first statement from the CID head that “they knew the whereabouts of the Takoradi girls,” as not factual.

He added, “This development will not argur well for a public institution. Don’t blame people if they lose trust for us as security people.”



The Brigadier General sympathised with the family noting that ” it is depressing for you not to see your child for days, what is happening to her, what she has eaten and so on.”

Blasting the CID boss on the same programme, Fraud and Security Consultant, Mr. Richard Kumadoe noted that the security services must distinguish themselves in the framework of the regimented institutions they are and stop officers from speaking in the public domain anyhow.

“If people flout service rules and regulations, heads must roll. It is simple. We must protect integrity of the security architecture,” he said.

Mr. Kumadoe underscored the need for the Ghana Police Service to liase with other intelligence agencies to get work done.

“BNI, immigration and the national security must all work together with the police in this.

It is important for us to get our act together. Let us have a serious coordination among them and we can stop kidnappings.”

On his part, Executive Director of Child Rights International, Mr. Bright Appiah asked government to take a lead role in giving the affected families psycho-social services to cushion them mentally in these trying times as they have not seen their children for many months.

The girls, Priscilla Mantabea Koranchie 18 years, Priscilla Blessing Bentum, 21 and Ruth Love Quayson 18, were all kidnapped last year in Takoradi.

A Nigerian national, Samuel Wils, was picked up after investigations by the police. He later broke jail but was rearrested.

According to police, the suspect was initially refusing to talk when interrogated, a development detectives claimed was hampering the progress of investigations. Though critical evidence on mobile phone, iPad and SIM cards were discovered on the suspect linking him to the disappearance of the girls, the Ghana police have shocked many when they presented a charge sheet to court without that of kidnapping.

A report last week by Daily Guide newspaper and other media houses that the girls were rescued and receiving medical attention at an undisclosed medical facility was swiftly denied by the police.

And the Ghana Police Police continue to come under intense public scrutiny and pressure to provide or disclose the whereabouts of the kidnapped girls.

The three affected families have, in the midst of obvious frustration and despondency, announced their resolve to hold a massive protest at the police headquarters next month to demand their beloved kids.