President Atta Mills has directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to re-open investigations into the suspected serial killings of women between 1999 and the year 2000, before the general elections of that year.
The directive probably followed incessant pressure brought to bear on the President by his former boss, Jerry John Rawlings. Information available to Daily Guide newspaper indicates that the IGP is inviting former President Rawlings to help them unravel the mystery surrounding the killing of 34 women in the country.
Charles Ebo Quansah is currently serving prison sentence for killing some of the 34. Thirty-four women were killed under mysterious, circumstances and dumped at various locations in Accra and Kumasi in the run-up to the 2000 general elections. Rawlings, who was then the President, could not arrest a soul, only to jump into the fray after his exit that he knew the perpetrators of the heinous act.
According to Mr. Rawlings, 15 cabinet ministers who severed in the erstwhile Kufuor administration were responsible for the killings. Daily Guide learnt that in asking the IGP to re-open the investigations into the murder cases, President Mills is expecting his former boss to make information available to the Chief Constable to bring the issue to a closure. Mr. Rawlings had refused to co-operative with the previous administration over the issue, preferring to give the information under ‘chemical interrogation’ or a visit to Antoa Nyama, a river goddess in the Ashanti region.
But the Police CID, under the command of David Asante Appeatu, investigated the murders thoroughly and secured conviction against Ebo Quansah who was said to have killed nine of the victims including his girlfriend. President Mills was the Vice President at the time of the bizarre killings which created a state of insecurity in the country, compelling various women’s groups to take to the streets in protest, demanding action form his government.
President Mills, in calling for the re-opening of the case, was of the view that it was important for the truth to be established to know whether or not that bizarre incident had been an arranged plot, for the sake of generations yet unborn.
According to him, the events before, during and after the 2008 elections justified the need to re-open investigations “to get to the bottom of those mysterious serial killings that hit our dear nation.”
The directive comes days after former President Rawlings, who was touring the Northern region, criticized the President for his inability to find those behind the murders and thus tasked the government to take the issue up since according to him, the NDC as a party could not win the 2012 elections without justice.
“If while we are in office we do not take advantage of this situation and re-investigate properly and deal with those who masterminded it, not just the subordinate personnel that were used, then we are leaving for them the power and the right to think they can do it again. And they know it… we all know it. It is incumbent on us for the sake of justice. In other words if NPP were to win an election again or if NDC were to continue, none of us must have the power to think we can kill any human being and get away with it,” Rawlings said.“Then they will do it again and they will survive by it and we would have committed a crime of not punishing and bringing them to justice and warning those who have done this that you will never do this again … That is why Rawlings keeps asking for it. And when I am asking for it I want it appreciated,” he emphasized.
Charles Quansah was arrested in February 2000 and convicted for killing his girlfriend, Joyce Boateng, and nine others.
The Police Administration had previously carried out a lot of investigations, including getting support from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) of the USA, during the Kufuor administration, to support investigations into the murders.
Quansah later claimed ignorance of the killings, saying that his earlier confession had been made under duress. Daily Guide sources at Nsawam Prisons said some unnamed officials had a meeting with Charles Quansah, giving assurances that he would be set free if he could co-operate with them after which the convicted murderer had been in high spirits telling friends that his days at the yard were numbered.
Source: Daily guide-Ghana
