DUPED TOMATOES SELLER IS SERVED WITH JUSTICE

Faustina Adofowaa has finally been served with justice after three years of waiting. The thirty-year-old tomato seller has retrieved an amount of Five Thousand Ghana cedis from an instructor at the Tesano Police Training School. The officer, popularly known as “Airborne” collected the money purportedly to facilitate her recruitment into the Ghana Police Service. The police administration responded to her plight after her story was circulated in the media.

According to Faustina, a friend introduced her to ‘Airborne’ and convinced her that he had assisted her to join the service. The SHS graduate did not think twice when Airborne demanded five thousand Ghana cedis (GHS 5000.00) from her to process her documents. She hurriedly took ‘a loan’ from her market association in her quest to fulfill her long-cherished dream of joining the service. The mother of two was more convinced she was going to be recruited into the service when Airborne made her fill some forms she believed were for protocol recruitments.

The policeman subsequently deferred the date she would be called for training multiple times. She prepared for training by buying some needed items. She bought T-shirts, a chop box and a mattress with her last savings. “I was prepared for training”, she told crimecheckghana.

The disappointed young lady realized she was being duped after ‘Airborne’ introduced her to another man supposedly from the Protocol Department of the Police Service. This strategy was to free himself from her tide of phone calls. “This man also tried to extort eight thousand Ghana cedis from me to fast track the process that would enable me get a call up for training. That was when I realized I have been defrauded”, she said.

All efforts to get Airborne to refund her money have been unsuccessful as the police instructor refused to answer her phone calls for three years. Adofowaa approached Crime Check Foundation (CCF), an implementor of the USAID Justice Sector Support Activity (JSSA), to help her retrieve her money after hearing about the activity. Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, Executive Director of CCF and Media Specialist of the JSSA made efforts to contact Airborne at his office but the latter was adamant and uncooperative.

Faustina finally found reprieve through the intervention of the JSSA. The Police Administration got involved and acted promptly to retrieve her money for her. “After my story was aired, I was invited by PIPS (Police Professional and Standard Bureau) and when I went I was handed my money. I thank JSSA and CCF for their efforts”, she said. Airborne is currently on service interdiction pending the completion of police disciplinary processes.