We aren’t aware of GHS3,000 given to Takoradi woman’s alleged ‘kidnappers’ — ACP Kwesi Ofori

The Ghana Police Service has distanced itself from the supposed GHS 3,000 allegedly given by the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, for the release of Josephine Panyin Mensah, the woman at the centre of the Takoradi kidnapping-pregnancy saga.

Speaking to Citi News, the acting Director-General of Police Public Affairs, ACP Kwesi Ofori, said “we are strictly guided by the release that we have put out. Nothing of the sort came to the police administration. We cannot verify if anyone else has received that money.”

An aide to the Western Regional Minister, Justice Acquah on Thursday, September 23, 2021, disclosed that an amount of GHS 3,000 was given by the Regional Minister to the Regional police administration to be paid as ransom to the suspected kidnappers.

His explanation came after the Minister was heavily criticized for rubbishing the woman’s claims and suggesting that she wasn’t pregnant.

Justice Acquah in a Citi News interview said the payment of the ransom to the police for onward delivery to the supposed kidnappers, was made in collaboration with the mother of the woman.

“At the point of the payment, the mother was collaborating with the police to find the exact location of the woman. The Minister gave the money to the police to give to the kidnappers because he wanted to get to the bottom of the matter. It was an amount of GHS 3,000 given to the police through the Regional Commander. But the kidnappers initially demanded an amount of GHS 500 and increased it to a GHS 1,000.”

Woman never pregnant

Already, the police have said the woman was never pregnant, as her family had claimed.

In a statement issued on Thursday, September 23, 2021, police said a thorough medical examination by the medical doctors at the Axim Government Hospital revealed that the woman “was never pregnant within the period under review.”

Medical records at the Takoradi Government Hospital where she claimed to have attended anti-natal care also confirmed that she was only at the facility in October 2020 without pregnancy.

The Police now says a second test at the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital has confirmed that the woman was not pregnant.

Following this development, police are now treating the woman, who was said to have gone missing on September 16, as a suspect, in the case.

After being found at Axim on September 21, Josephine's family said she had lost the baby during the period she was missing.

Police also said, “she may have conspired with other persons over her possible planned disappearance.”

---citinews