General News of Monday, 13 October 2014

Source: Daily Heritage

Ebola suspect grilled by Police…

Ebola Fear and panic has gripped some residents of Sowutuom, a suburb of Accra, following the return of a Liberian resident in the area after spending the last four months in his home country, Liberia.



Consequently, the Landlord of the said Liberian has blocked his entry into the house until he obtains clearance from the appropriate quarters. He, on Friday, also reported the Liberian to the Sowutuom Police Station upon which the Ebola suspect was invited by the station for interrogation.



Narrating the incident to the DAILY HERITAGE, the Landlord of the Liberian returnee, known as Mr. Denkyi, said early Friday morning he received a distress call from one of his tenants reporting to him about the arrival of their Liberian co-tenant.



Mr. Denkyi said, after some hesitations and feet dragging, he finally decided to hold the bull by the horn and approached the young man to find out how he got into the country, since there is some kind of restriction on residents of the Ebola stricken countries of which Liberia is one.



According to him, the young Liberian whose name and other details have been withheld for obvious reasons explained that he arrived in the country by air and attempted to show him some documents proving that he was Ebola-free.



But for fear of attracting the Ebola virus, Mr Denkyi said he did not have the courage to touch the documents, let alone read them.



He said, he therefore quickly trotted to the Sowutuom Police Station, amidst panting and sweating in the early morning to lodge a complaint upon which the returnee was invited to the Police Station via phone.



When asked why he decided to report the incident to the Police, considering the fact that it was an in- house matter, Mr. Denkyi, or ‘Mr. Menyewonam’, as he is affectionately called, quickly retorted that Ebola can never be an in-house matter.



He disclosed that many of his residents have deserted their rooms since their co-tenant arrived and have threatened to quit the house if the young man was allowed to stay in the house.



He explained that it was for fear of contracting the deadly virus or losing his rent that he took the decision.



Interestingly, this paper has gathered that the landlord has received several applauds from residents of the vicinity for taking that decision because the return of the Liberian to the area has been a major talking point ever since the disease broke out some months ago.



This paper also gathered that residents in the area, including friends of the Liberian-returnee, do not find it pleasant going closer to him, a situation which has made him worried.



Checks conducted at the Sowutuom Police Station indicated that the Liberian reported to the station after which his documents were ‘vetted’ and subsequently cleared by the inspector in- charge of the station Chief Inspector Asiedu.



However, the main question on the lips of the residents in the vicinity is whether the police officer possesses the professional competence to determine the veracity of those documents provided by the Liberian and clear him of Ebola suspicion.





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