Alex Kuranchie
At last two out of the three families of the Takoradi girls have agreed to cooperate with the forensic team charged with undertaking the tests to identify the human remains discovered in the regional capital.
Only a scientific approach can allow for the identification of the human remains at this time. It is a time-tested identification audit of the human body, the only one used under such circumstances and others.
The detectives undertaking the forensic tests would need all the co-operation from the families of the missing girls and even others in their assignments.
This is an assignment in which, unlike others, Ghanaians are all ears awaiting its outcome.
We were saddened by the omnibus non-cooperation announcement by the two out of the three families of the missing girls. This worry has now given way to hope that the police will be able to undertake their mission without avoidable hindrance.
It is our position that the families of the missing girls at this stage should be managed and not attacked for any variation in their mood. They have suffered sufficient anxiety which, in the case of persons with failing health, could even be fatal.
While we call on the police to bear with the families whenever they become unduly obstinate, we would be quick to plead with the latter to calm down and understand that we are with them in their demand for the unravelling of the conundrum surrounding the missing girls and their eventual discovery and alive, God willing.
We do recognize the pain that they have gone through since the disappearance of their daughters. How they have managed life since then is miraculous; we salute them for the emotional endurance.
We think and pray that this is the last lap in the arduous journey towards finding the missing girls.
It was in order for the state to engage clinical psychologists for the aggrieved families. We do not know whether the duration of the service but would rather it is an extensive one so their expected anxiety would be psychologically managed as we especially await the outcome of the forensic tests.
In one of the related pictures a few days ago in the media, the mother of one of the victims was seen weeping. The emotional scene, infectious as it was, touched the heart of many a parent who saw it.
At this stage, we ask the Police Administration to maintain and sustain the seeming trust now returning in their relations with the aggrieved families. One of the families is yet to be won over though but that notwithstanding we think with persistence and tenacity they would eventually calm down and cooperate with the forensic team.
One of the demands of the families is about a certain police officer who they are not comfortable with. Indeed, they would want that cop questioned over some issues relating to the subject under review. We find it curious that the families would persist on that tangent and ask that they be obliged the request; perhaps, in it lies a concealed clue.