Highly irate youth in Yamfo in the Tano North Municipality of the Ahafo region are boiling with rage. They claim that a senior police officer (name withheld) took a bribe of GHc4,000.00 from a driver and his accomplice who killed a motor rider in the night on Monday, and allowed them to leave. The driver and accomplice at the centre of the incident were allegedly using a mobile phone light as headlights for the Kia truck at the time of the accident.
However, according to police authorities, the pair have been remanded and are currently in custody.
It is unclear what has happened to the Kia truck at the centre of the controversy. What has irritated the youth is that it has disappeared from the police impound where the youth assisted the police to push it soon after the accident.
In the meantime the youth are appealing to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to remove and transfer the officer involved with immediate effect before he incurs their wrath.
The youths in a protest yesterday, Wednesday, February 16, 2022, alleged the senior police officer took an amount of GHC4,000.00 from the owner of a Kia Truck that ran over a motor rider, Christian Tweneboah Koduah at about 8.00 pm on Monday, February 14, 2022 on the Susuanso-Yamfo road, killing him instantly.
The pair were using lights from a mobile phone as headlights for the truck at the time of the accident.
The 31 year old Christian Tweneboah Koduah is married with three children. At the time of his death, he was expecting his fourth child.
According to Daily Searchlight sources, the Kia Truck without lights was headed to Yamfo from Abesim around 8:00pm on Monday evening, while the deceased, Christian Tweneboah Koduah was returning to Yamfo after dropping a female friend at Susuanso.
The sources also alleged that the Kia Truck driver and his accomplice who were using mobile phone torch light as headlights in the night ran away leaving the truck behind after knocking down Koduah.
The youths who gathered in front of the police station with red bands on their heads and arms blocked part of the road demanding answers as to why the truck they helped the police to drag from where the incident happened to the police station, disappeared without the knowledge of the deceased family.
Speaking in an interview with Collins Fosu-Appiah, Public Relations Officer of the Ahafo Regional Police Cammand, ASP Kwame Loh revealed that the 45 year old Kofi Dei, the truck driver and the truck owner Joseph Yeboah are in prison custody.
According to ASP Loh, the suspects were arrested and arraigned before court and were subsequently remanded for two weeks in prison custody by the Duayaw Nkwanta Circuit Court on Wednesday February 16, 2022. He added that the Regional Police Command together with the Chief have engaged the youths and calm has been restored.
Meanwhile, mother of the deceased, Madam Hagar Oppong believes nothing can be done to bring back the son but all she seeks now is justice so that the son can rest in peace.
The body of the deceased is currently in the Sunyani municipal hospital mortuary waiting for autopsy.
(This news item was originally published in the Daily Searchlight of Thursday, February 17th, 2022, available for sale on www.ghananewsstand.com).
