BNI officials stripped me naked when I was arrested in 2017 – Nana Yaa Jantuah

The former Public Relations and External Affairs Director of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Nana Yaa Jantuah, has alleged that she was subjected to humiliating treatment, including being stripped naked, during her arrest and detention by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).

On May 12, 2017, Nana Yaa Jantuah and Samuel Sarpong, Executive Secretary of the PURC, were summoned by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), now the National Intelligence Bureau, for questioning regarding alleged financial malfeasance. They were released on bail the following day.

In an interview on Face to Face on Channel One TV, Nana Yaa Jantuah recounted her traumatic experience, stating that she was stripped naked and left with only a gown to wear.

“I remember when all the issues were going on, they took me to BNI and all manner of places, Economic and Organised Crime Office, Criminal Investigations Department, everywhere to investigate me. And my chairman told Dr Mahamudu Bawumia that don’t do this to this girl. We have trained her in engineering, we have trained her in tariffs, if you let her go, you’re throwing away an asset.

“I’m pleading with you, don’t let her go, because if she goes, this sector is going to suffer. I was almost like an anchor, I call this person, that person, whenever there was an issue. I mean I wanted everybody to be alright.

“…I think one day I got up and said what is actually going on? They took me to BNI, stripped me naked, put me in a cell, put handcuffs on me,” she told host Umaru Sanda Amadu.

Nana Yaa Jantuah shared that she has recently sought divine guidance to forgive those responsible for her arrest and the subsequent trauma she endured.

“Thursday, I went to church and was praying to God to help me to forgive. Because it just flashed into my mind and I remembered how a lady said what is the colour of your hair, eyes, remove everything and then they put a gown on me and sent me to the cell. I asked myself, is that how Ghana thanks you when you leave everything and serve your people?” she asked.

When asked the number of days she spent in the cells, she said, “I think I stayed there for two days. They made sure I was there alone…”

“I was in a wheelchair, I was admitted, nothing was working in my body, I had an infection, bacteria reddened my body. They gave me an old mattress in the cell. I picked the bacteria from there, very stubborn bacteria… Everybody thought I was gone but I survived it.”

“I reported to BNI for three years, it’s like you have been incarcerated.”

Sarpong was interrogated about the alleged transfer of GH¢435,087 from PURC funds into his accounts, while Jantuah was questioned about her reported use of GH¢120,000 in PURC funds to purchase 350 Christmas hampers.

In the aftermath of this incident, Jantuah tendered her resignation letter on the evening of Tuesday, May 16, effective November 2017, marking her departure from the PURC.

She also revealed that her chairman’s advice to Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, urging him not to let her go due to her valuable contributions to the country, was regrettably ignored, a decision she believes was a grave mistake.