Takoradi kidnappings: Assign psychologists to affected families – CRI

Children-centred NGO Child Rights International (CRI) has entreated the government to provide clinical psychologists to the families of the kidnapped Takoradi girls.

According to the organization, the government has failed to provide that social welfare component to the families.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Monday, 20 May 2019, the Executive Director of CRI, Mr. Bright Appiah, insisted that the Ghana Police Service must render an apology to the families of the kidnapped girls for deceiving them about the whereabouts of the missing girl.

“What the family needs is how the police can assure them of the investigation process and also how we can stabilize their emotions”, he said.

Mr. Appiah has also called on parliament to immediately summon the Minister for the Interior as well as the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, to outline their plan to solve the problem.

He said the NGO has started an online campaign to demand specific actions from parliament and other state institutions toward solving the problem.

The missing girls are 18-year-old Priscilla Mantebea Koranchie, last seen on 21 December 2018; 21-year-old Priscilla Blessing Bentum, last seen on 17 August 2018; and 18-year-old Ruth Love Quayson, last seen on 4 December 2018.

The man suspected to be behind the kidnappings, Samuel Udoetuk-Wills, who broke cell and escaped from the custody of the Takoradi Metropolitan Police Command on 30 December 2018, was re-arrested by the police.

He has been sentenced to 18 months in prison by the Takoradi Market Circle Court for the cell break while investigations concerning the kidnappings continue.