Mark Kwadwo Dzamasi, a 60-year-old retired teacher, has been arrested by the Asesewa police in the Upper Manya Krobo District of the Eastern Region for allegedly defrauding some teachers and pastors to the tune of GH¢25,000 under the guise of assisting them to travel to South Africa to train as peer educators.
The Asesewa District police commander, Superintendent Stephen Kofi Ahiatafu, who confirmed the incident at a press conference, indicated that the suspect was once a teacher but now claims to be a peer educator for Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG).
According to him, Mr Kwadwo Dzamasi used two names – Mark Kwadwo Dzamasi and Mark Day Akkers – to defraud his victims.
The police officer indicated that on December 2015, the suspect forged introductory letters from the University of Ghana, French Embassy and PPAG and submitted them to the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Upper Manya Krobo, Joseph Amgbor, the district director of Education and the local Council of Churches as a student pursuing a doctorate degree in Systematic Counselling at Legon and that he was in the district for research activities.
Supt. Ahiatafu further posited that the Mr Kwadwo Dzamasi was subsequently introduced to some local churches as well as the education directorate and managed to train about 40 members of the churches in counselling techniques between the period of December 2015 and May 2016.
Supt. Ahiatafu stated, “The suspect deceived his victims that the French Embassy and PPAG were his sponsors, adding that opportunity had been provided for the participants to go to South Africa for further training.”
He subsequently asked that they pay various fees ranging from GH¢100 to GH¢2,100 for medicals, passport and other traveling documents.
After succeeding in defrauding his victims, the commander said the teacher ran away from the community to hide in a village called Dzolokpuita in the Volta Region to carry on with his nefarious activities and was grabbed.
FROM Daniel Bampoe, Asesewa