Konadu’s ‘robber’ speaks

A waiter at a popular hotel in Takoradi, one William, has confirmed to The Chronicle newspaper that he was arrested by the Takoradi police on the 8th of September, this year, for allegedly stealing money belonging to the President of the 31st December Women’s Movement, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings.

According to William, he was arrested at 4am by two police officers from the Takoradi Central Police, who were led by a lawyer and son of the owner of the hotel. He told The Chronicle in an interview in Takoradi yesterday that his accusers claimed the former First Lady had alleged that somebody stole money from her bag, whilst lodging at the hotel.

The suspect further said that after his arrest, his room was searched and his passport, travelling documents, car and an amount of GH¢350 seized from him. He alleged that at the police station, he was interrogated by the District Crime Officer, Dela Dzansi, about his involvement in the theft. According to him, though he denied the charge, he was detained tan letter granted bail in the sum of GH¢1.000.

Interestingly, when The Chronicle first broke the story, the Mr. Dzansi called the Editor to deny that any such case had been reported to his outfit.

He also denied that he confirmed to our reporter that the docket on the case had been forwarded to the Attorney General’s department for advice. Dzansi insisted that the entire story the reporter attributed to him was a lie, and even threatened to drag him (the reporter) to the National Media Commission. He repeated the same story in an interview granted to Peace FM.

However, according to William, Dela Dzansi interrogated him for a long while, as to whether he knew something about the missing money, belonging to Nana Konadu Rawlings, and also how he (suspect) acquired the items that were seized from him.

The suspect said the last time he appeared before Dela Dzansi was on the 24th of September, 2010, together with the owner of the hotel, where he again denied ever stealing Nana Konadu’s money.After this second denial, the Crime Officer told him that the police were forwarding the docket on the case to the AG’s office for advice. William said he has been working at the hotel for eight months, and that he has never been involved in stealing.

Human rights activist who spoke to The Chronicle expressed concern about the attitude of the police in the case. According to them, if Nana Konadu indeed told the hotel management that she had been burgled, she and not the hotel, should have gone to the police to lodge a complaint.