Missing Taadi Girls: My Resignation Will Not Solve Issue – CID Boss

Head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police Service has replied critics calling for her head following her handling of the case involving the three missing Takoradi girls.

Maame Tiwaa Addo-Danquah says her resignation will not automatically resolve the issue and bring back the girls.

Speaking at a programme organised by Commonwealth Africa in Accra Wednesday, she said her focus is working to “bring whatever situation that we have at a very conclusive stage not to waste your time thinking you want to resign or not.”

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

On August 2, 2019, the police confirmed they retrieved human remains from a septic tank on a property previously occupied by the key suspect in the kidnapping of the three missing girls, Samuel Udoetuk-Wills.

The skulls were retrieved at Kasaworodo a suburb of Takoradi following a search in the premises by the Police with the aid of sniffer dogs.

The police through their investigations got the information that the girls were dead and were buried in the septic tank behind the accused person's house, a source said.

Following the discovery, there have been calls for the head of the CID boss after she told reporters “We know where the girls are,” at a news conference in Accra.

While confident of wrapping up the saga, she urged patience and assured the public “they are safe...very soon they will be brought back home.”

Then, families of the missing girls questioned why the police failed to disclose the information to them before going public.

Weeks later, under-pressure Maame Tiwaa beat a retreat saying she was misunderstood when she announced the three missing girls had been located.

She told Accra-based Atinka TV, she ‘wanted to give the families hope’ by that announcement.

The CID boss who could be the next Inspector-General of Police said her comments have been misinterpreted. ‘Maybe people did not understand me well’ she said in Twi, a local language.

The opposition NDC has announced it is collecting signatures calling for the CID boss’ sacking.

But in the latest rebuttal, Mama Tiwa said when it is time for her to leave, “I will leave because somebody was there [before] and I am here [today].”