Former Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) Director of Public Relations and External Relations, Nana Yaa Jantua, has made a shocking revelation alleging that she was subjected to humiliating treatment, including being stripped naked, during her arrest and detention by the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI).
On 12 May 2017, Nana Yaa Jantua and PURC Secretary-General Samuel Sapong were summoned before the National Bureau of Investigation (now the National Intelligence Agency) for questioning over alleged financial irregularities. They were released on bail the following day.
Mr Sapong was questioned over his alleged transfer of GHยข435,087 from PURC funds to his own account, while Mr Jantua was questioned over reports that he used PURC funds of GHยข120,000 to purchase 350 Christmas hampers. Following the incident, Mr Jantua submitted his resignation on the evening of Tuesday, May 16, leaving PURC effective November 2017.
In an interview Face to face upon Channel One TVNana Yaa Jantua recounted her traumatic experience, saying she was stripped naked and left with only a few clothes on.
She also disclosed that the advice of the Chairman who urged Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia not to sack her for her valuable contribution to the country was unfortunately ignored, a decision she believes was a grave error.
โI remember when all the problems were happening, they took me to BNI, Economic and Organised Crime Bureau, Criminal Investigations Department, everywhere for investigations and my chairman told Dr Mahamudu Bawumia not to do this to this girl, we trained her in engineering, we trained her in customs and if you let her go, you are giving away an asset.
“Please, don’t let her go. If she goes, the industry will suffer. I was like an anchor, calling this person, calling that person whenever there was a problem. I mean, I wanted everybody to be OK.”
“… I guess one day I stood up and said what the hell is going on? They took me to the BNI, stripped me naked, put me in a cell and handcuffed me,” he told presenter Umaru Sanda Amadu.
Nana Yaa Jantua recently said she sought God’s guidance to forgive those responsible for her arrest and the trauma she suffered thereafter.”
“On Thursday, I went to church and prayed to God to help me forgive because I remembered how a woman told me, ‘What colour is your hair and your eyes? Throw it all away,’ and then they locked me up and sent me to solitary confinement. I asked myself, ‘Is this how Ghana will appreciate you when you give up everything to serve its people?'” she asked.
When asked how many days she spent in solitary confinement, she replied: “I think I was there for two days. The prison staff made sure I was alone…”
“I was in a wheelchair, in hospital, my body wasn’t functioning, I had an infection, bacteria was turning my body red. In my cell, they gave me an old mattress, they took bacteria from it, it was very stubborn… Everyone thought I was dead, but I survived.”
“I reported to BNI for three years and felt like I was in prison.”
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