Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says, the Tema Police Command has concluded investigations into the case in which Emmanuel Essien, a Ghanaian, mysteriously disappeared, while on a Chinese fishing vessel in 2019.
The family of Mr. Essien have been demanding answers from authorities over his whereabouts, without any answers.
But in a media encounter on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, Oppong Nkrumah said the police have finally concluded the probe into the matter and some new suspects have emerged.
“I wrote a letter under my signature to the IGP, and they have responded. The Tema police have completed their investigations, and they have sent a duplicate case docket to the Attorney-General for study and advice. The AG upon study directed that they need to do further interrogation of some three persons, one Isaac Cudjoe, Dziwornu Ahabile and Antony Asiedu. They have done the further interrogation and have submitted this update to the Attorney-General and in about three weeks, the Attorney-General will come out with its final advice on this docket,” he said.
Emmanuel Essien embarked on a scheduled observer mission with the said vessel but has since not been seen.
He was attached to the Chinese vessel Meng Xin on July 5, 2019, on observer duties, but reportedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
His colleagues say the vessel returned from its deep-sea operations without Emmanuel.
It is standard practice to assign observers to foreign and local fishing vessels that fish in Ghanaian waters.
The observers also accused authorities of doing very little to find their missing colleague, adding that several of such complaints have not yielded any result.
The family of the missing fishing observer has, time without number, been calling on the government to help them find their relative.
Two years after the disappearance, officials say no one has been held accountable yet.
