Demonstrations will not bring back kidnapped Takoradi girls – Deputy Defense Minister

Deputy Minister of Defense, Maj. Rtd. Derrick Oduro says the demonstrations by advocacy groups and families of the kidnapped Takoradi girls will not bring back the missing girls.

There have been several demonstrations in a bid to pile pressure on the security agencies to locate the abducted girls.

The latest of such protest was undertaken on Saturday by a Takoradi based Advocacy for Youth Group in conjunction with the Western Youth for Justice together with families of the three kidnapped girls who called on President Akufo Addo to as a matter of urgency dismiss CID Boss COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo Danquah for what the group describes as unprofessional deceitful and misrepresentation of the kidnapping case.

But Maj. (Rtd) Derrick Oduro in an interview on Asempa FM stated that instead of hitting the streets and sitting on the fence expecting the security agencies to locate the girls, such persons should rather channel their energies into a search and rescue exercise.

“Soon after the kidnapping incident first happened and before the girls could be moved into a secret location we could have decided as a national exercise that a search will be conducted in every house to look for the missing girls without the need for a search warrant nor imposition of a curfew. Not this kind of demonstration being done on the streets where certain personalities are being called out and attacked verbally. The demonstrations must be positive, if such a search was conducted earlier I’m sure we could have seen them long ago."

“Why don’t the demonstrators decide that they’ll all join forces and start looking for the girls instead of hitting the streets, will these demonstrations bring back the kidnapped girl? no. Members of the security services are not God or magicians to know where the girls have been hidden."

"We should never think that there are some security agents somewhere who are magicians or superhumans who will rescue these girls. It will take a collaborative effort from the public in terms of volunteering information to enable the security agencies to trace the location of the girls,” Maj. Rtd Oduro noted.

The three Takoradi missing girls, Ruth Quayson has been kidnapped for six months, four days, Priscilla Mantsebea Koranchie has been kidnapped for five months two–weeks while the 17th of August would mark exactly one year Priscilla Blessing Bentum was also kidnapped.