Tata Siaw's wife allegedly burns his house

A jealous wife has burnt the house of the late Joshua Kwabena Siaw, a Kwahu business magnate, at his hometown at Akwasiho, near Nkawkaw in Eastern Region.

The house is the only non-confiscated landed property of Mr Siaw, who was the former Managing Director and owner of Tata Brewery, now part of Ghana Breweries Limited.

The Ghana News Agency reports the head of the family Wofa Kofi Donkor on Thursday as appealing to the Inspector General of Police to intervene to get the Police at Nkawkaw to prosecute the arsonist, Adwoa Fordjour.

Wofa Donkor said Adwoa, who is the second wife of Mr Kwame Ebo, a teacher and a tenant in the house, committed the offence out of jealousy. Adwoa did not approve of the romance between her husband, who was determined to take a third wife and decided to incinerate his property when he visited the house of the rival on the day of the incident, he said.

He said Adwoa went to her husband’s house at about 11pm when she knew that Ebo had gone to the other woman's house. She opened his door, entered the room and poured kerosene across the room and set it ablaze and fled, he alleges.

Eyewitnesses are said to have raised the alarm when they saw the flames and some people assisted in putting out the fire before the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) got to the scene.

Wofa Donkor said three months after the incident the Nkawkaw Police was dragging its feet and seemed not to be interested in prosecuting the woman, adding that the situation had heightened tension between the youth in the town, who want to see justice done and some elders they perceived wanted the matter settled out of court.

Mr Wesely Gbogbo, Nkawkaw Police District Officer, in a telephone interview with the GNA said his outfit was waiting for a report from the Nkawkaw GNFS before sending the docket to the Attorney- General's Office for advice. He, however, said that the Police would not hesitate to send the suspect to court since she had admitted that she committed the offence.