It is not my problem if you kill your wife – Minister fumes

Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, on Monday threw caution and decorum to the wind when he claimed he does not give a hoot about husbands committing uxoricide in their homes.

“If someone kills his wife, how does that concern me? It is not my responsibility to ensure that couples do not fight at home and if they do, I don’t fix the problems of families in their homes.

“It is not my function to address problems in individual homes as a minister,” Mr Osei-Mensah furiously asserted in response to a question on the upsurge of murders in the region.

As he huffed and puffed, the Regional Minister told Accra based Citi FM that he could not fathom why queries on how homicide could be prevented among couples would be directed at him.

Asked how his outfit intends to deal with the incessant killings that have rocked the region, Mr Osei-Mensah said “I’m the regional minister and I’m in charge of the general security of the people in Ashanti Region, but I can’t visit every household to stop lovers or couples from fighting. I can’t determine what couples do in their homes.”

Not enthused about the line of questioning, the minster demanded the interviewer asked “intelligent questions” and refrain from unnecessary speculations before hanging up the phone.

Background

The high rate of killings in the Ashanti Region in recent times has attracted widespread criticism from a section of the public.

The Regional Security Council mandated to provide security have done absolutely nothing to halt the trend, analysts have said.

The killing of a community health nurse, Ruth Ama Eshun, brings the number of unresolved murders in the region to seven in less than a year.

The nurse, who is a mother of three, was found dead at a secluded area close to her Ayoum new site residence in the Bosomtwe District of Ashanti last Tuesday, February 4, 2020.

She was said to have left the house on Monday, February 3, 2020, and did not return.

To make matters worse, the crime scene where the body was found was set ablaze on Saturday, February 8, 2020.

Police sources have however indicated that the fire will not in any way affect investigations into the incident.

Listen to the interview below