Speaking to Adom News, Lawyer Paul Kumi argued that when a person’s whereabouts become unknown under suspicious or distressing circumstances, relatives and concerned citizens have every right to report the matter immediately.

“There is no legal backing for a blanket 24-hour waiting period before the police can receive a missing-person report,” Kumi said.

He stressed that police personnel should not use this alleged requirement to delay investigations or turn away desperate families. He added that anyone reporting such cases must be promptly issued a police extract, which he described as vital for media broadcasts and public announcements that aid search and rescue efforts.

Anguish sparks debate

The controversy gained renewed public attention following a harrowing account from a distraught mother whose 14-year-old child went missing and was later found murdered the next morning.

Speaking to Adom News, she said that after exhausting all personal avenues to locate her child, she turned to the police, only to be turned away and told to return home until 24 hours had passed. She described a night of dashed hopes and agonising helplessness, knowing her child was in danger while official channels remained closed to her.

Procedures vs public safety

Offering a different perspective, security analyst Nana Appiah Mensah suggested the 24-hour directive might not be malicious but rather an administrative attempt by the Ghana Police Service to curb false or premature reports. That explanation has done little to calm public anxiety.

Members of the public have called for immediate reforms, clearer reporting procedures, and swift, uncompromising responses to missing-person cases. Civil society groups and legal experts are urging the Police Administration to clarify its official directives, insisting that public safety and the preservation of human life must always take precedence over bureaucratic protocol.

Lamisi-Akanbodiipo went missing on June 12, 2024, while on a party assignment. Her whereabouts remain unknown, with no official update since her disappearance.

Deputy Women’s Organiser for Tema West, Everlove Yankson, told Citi News that records were available to prove the party had maintained full financial accountability regarding her entitlements.

“Whatever goes on in the constituency, I am aware. Anything that comes in, her share is given to the family, which I am 100 percent sure of. Even our treasurer can attest to that. The records are there,” she said.

Yankson added that the party’s national leadership had yet to re-engage the constituency on the matter, despite earlier discussions about holding a press briefing on the case.

The deceased, identified simply as Maa Pat, is a well known Nigerian living in the area and works as a labourer.

Information gathered by Adom News’ Kwasi Azor indicates that the woman was reported missing last Thursday, June 15, and was found on Sunday, June 18.

Speaking to Adom News, an Opinion Leader in the Ayebeahwe Beposo community, Okyeame Nkrumah, noted that the family of the deceased informed him about the disappearance of the woman and a search was launched.

After several hours of searching, a pungent smell emanating from the neighborhood led residents to the deceased’s decomposing body in the bush.

The deceased was found lying face down with no obvious signs of struggle.

The police, who were notified of the development, have visited the scene and retrieved the body.

The residents have, therefore, appealed to the police to unravel the circumstances leading to her death and bring the perpetrators to book.

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Zakaria reportedly refused to return home after she was hinted of her mother’s threats to beat her for allegedly stealing GH¢10 from their shop.

However, after the darkness had settled with no sign of her, a report was lodged at the district’s police station and a search was launched.

Two days after she went missing, she was spotted in an Islamic school miles away in another district at Asawinso by a passerby.

The ‘Good Samaritan’ handed her over to the Asawinso police station who in turn contacted the family of the missing girl for identification.

She has since been reunited with her family.

Mother of the victim, Zinabu Zakaria, in an interview with Adom News’ Augustine Boah expressed sincere gratitude to God for keeping her daughter safe.

She also thanked all who contributed to the search of her daughter.

Mavis Agyeman, was a teacher prior to her demise and was reported missing after she did not return home after conducting extra classes in her school.

A report was made to the police, and a community search was conducted, all to no avail.

However, her badly decomposed body was found in the bush by some farmers Sunday afternoon.

She was discovered in a supine position with her shirt split open.

The brother of the deceased, Manford Agyei Agyeman, in an interview with Adom News’ Augustine Boah, suspects that his sister was murdered on the day she got missing.

He alleged that she may have been murdered by her boyfriend who has also since committed suicide.

This follows a month-long frantic search for Mr Oppong, who was reported missing after he left home for his shoe repair business.

Confirming the incident to Adom News, Fomena District Police Commander, C/Supt. Ohene Takyi, said the family reported the matter, but the search proved difficult since the deceased was mentally unstable.

Nonetheless, the disappearance case was solved after a group of residents found him floating in a river covered by grass.

He was still fully clothed and lying in a supine position.

C/Supt Takyi said some environmentalists were called to the scene and discovered that the body had reached a high stage of decomposition; it was in a skeletal form.

With the help of the Assembly Member and youth, the body was carefully retrieved and laid in a coffin for immediate burial.

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