Transform Rural Ghana Initiative supports fugitive

Transform Rural Ghana Initiative (TRuGI), a non-governmental organisation, has donated assorted items to a 75- year old woman, Madam Abena Odi who was accused of killing her brother who was residing in Accra.

The donation followed an appeal launched by the Koforidua office of the Ghana News Agency (GNA), to support the well-being of the woman who had returned to the village, where she was accused, after one year.

Whilst in Koforidua, the woman was squatting at the defunct Koforidua Railways station with her daughter and other family members.

The items included half pieces of clothes, cooking utensils, eating bowls and plates, washing bowls and buckets, cutlery, drinking cups, bed sheets, and 25 kg bag of rice, cooking oil, toiletries and an undisclosed amount.

The victim was accused of killing her younger brother who died at the age 68, last year, by a fetish priest in the village.

The priest claimed he had consulted the gods leading to the beaten of the old lady who was stripped naked and her two-room house demolished.

Her farm and other properties were also destroyed.

The founder of TRuGI, Ms Rocklyn Antonio said, she heard the story of the woman through a GNA report and followed it up with a visit to the Koforidua office, where she was briefed about the situation.

She said the donation was the first in series of TRuGI’s initiative to support vulnerable people in the society including old women and girls in the rural areas to make life a bit comfortable for them.

Ms Antonio commended GNA for such a noble course, which she noted saved the life of the woman who could have died from her predicament.

Mr Edmund Quaynor, the Eastern Regional Manager of the GNA, urged the community leaders to ensure that such an unfortunate incident never happens again because any other person could have been a victim.

He called on the community leaders to put sanctions in place that would serve as deterrent to anybody who would want to repeat such an act.

Mr Quaynor congratulated Ms Bertha Badu-Agyei, Senior Reporter at the Koforidua office for championing the issue of the woman leading to her return to the village.

Madam Odi, who was dumbfounded by the gesture, broke into tears and thanked TRuGI, GNA and Mr Dan Botwe, Member of Parliament of Okere, for helping to rebuild her house as well as her upkeep.