The violent arrest and secret detention of nurse Salomay Bafoh Awiti have ignited a political storm in Ghana, sparking public outrage and a widening debate about the conduct of state security agencies. The details brought to light by her lawyer, Enoch Afoakwa, have cast serious doubt on the country’s democratic credentials, which until now were widely praised, and exposed what critics call an excessive use of force against ordinary citizens.
How the night unfolded: a pre-dawn raid and three children left behind
The trouble began late on Saturday night, around 11 p.m., when heavily armed security operatives stormed the home of Salomay Bafoh Awiti, a trained nurse working at Abetifi hospital in Techiman. Handcuffed in front of her family on opaque grounds of suspicious Mobile Money transactions and sharing videos deemed “offensive,” the nurse was taken to an unknown location.
The human drama was compounded by a blatant disregard for social protection rules: the operatives took the mother away while leaving her three minor children, aged 4 and 15, behind without any assistance or care. For more than 48 hours, well beyond the constitutional limit for police custody, her family and legal team hit a wall of silence. From the Ghana Police Service to the National Security Secretariat and the intelligence bureau (BNI), no institution would confirm where the accused was being held.
Treason charges and rights under attack
It was only after a gruelling search that Enoch Afoakwa finally managed to locate his client, who had been transferred to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Accra. The lawyer condemned abusive interrogation methods, saying the nurse had been repeatedly pressured to give statements without her legal counsel present.
When the case reached Circuit Court One, it took a sharply political turn: prosecutors alleged a conspiracy to “overthrow the government” in collusion with a virtual intermediary. The defence dismissed the accusation as outlandish and pointed out that prosecutors had failed to provide even a charge sheet to the lawyers before the hearing. “We are back to the darkest hours of our history,” Afoakwa said, denouncing a systematic breach of constitutional guarantees.
The ruling party’s awkward silence and the institutional stakes
The shockwaves have reached Parliament, where the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its legal figures, including MP and lawyer Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, are feeling the heat from civil society and human rights groups. While some lawmakers defend the firmness of institutions on national security matters, the public is increasingly questioning the blurred line between fighting crime and using the justice system to intimidate political opponents.
Faced with growing protests from the medical community and civil liberties groups, the court adjourned the session and ordered the prosecution to formalise its charges. The case has now moved far beyond the fate of one individual: it has become the ultimate test of Ghana’s democratic resilience in the face of state overreach.
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