Takoradi kidnappings: Over 2,000 sign petition to demand Parliamentary action

Over 2,000 Ghanaians are asking Parliament to haul some security agencies and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection over the case of three missing Takoradi Girls.

The petition was part of a campaign by Child Rights International to pressure on the agencies concerned with the case.

The girls; Ruth Quayson, Priscilla Blessing Bentum and Priscilla Koranchie, are believed to have been kidnapped between August 2018 and January 2019.

The main suspect, one Samuel Wills, is currently serving a 36-month sentence for breaking jail.

Trial for his alleged role in the kidnappings is yet to start.

A second suspect, John Oji, has been remanded.

In a statement addressed to the Daily Graphic, the Executive Director of the NGO, Bright Appiah said the “the organisation is presently trying to secure more signatories from Ghanaians and send it to Parliament to demand accountability on the missing girls.”

The NGO also urged the government to look beyond the law and consider the social cost on the families.

“Unfortunately the focus on the part of the state has been on the criminal side to the neglect of its social obligations to the family,” the statement also said.

The group thus called on Parliament to ensure that the state takes over “the social responsibility owed the families since they are the custodian of the law.”

Already, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa had tabled in Parliament a request for the Interior Minister to be summoned to answer questions on the recent kidnappings in Ghana.

The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Aaron Ocquaye subsequently directed the leadership of the house to consider inviting Ambrose Dery to brief members on the state of insecurity in the country.