Advisor on Gender and Social Protection to Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Akosua Manu has raised concerns over the reported arrest and detention of ‘innocent’ women in connection with efforts to identify the anonymous social media commentator known as “Ghana Jollof”, warning that innocent women must not become victims of the search.
In a statement released on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, Akosua Manu said the reported manner in which women are being taken into custody raises serious concerns of human rights violations and the protection of women and children, particularly where individuals are reportedly taken from their homes at night without clear information about their whereabouts, the authority under which they are being held, or the legal basis for their detention.**
“What is being reported cannot simply be normalised as ‘arrests.’ When individuals reportedly arrive at a woman’s home around midnight, identify themselves as security operatives, take her away, and her family is subsequently unable to establish with certainty which state institution is holding her or where she has been taken, we are confronting something far more troubling. This bears the disturbing hallmarks of an abduction and demands an immediate and credible explanation from the state,” she said.
The statement follows the reported midnight detention of Salomey Awity Baffoe, a 40-year-old mother of three from Hansua in the Techiman Municipality. According to reports, three persons who identified themselves as National Security operatives allegedly took her from her home at about 11:30 p.m. on September 13. Her family subsequently struggled to establish her whereabouts, while the Bono East Regional Police Command and Regional National Security officials reportedly said they had no record of the operation.
The incident is the latest development in the ongoing security interest in individuals allegedly connected to “Ghana Jollof.” Earlier in this month, Efya Royal, an NPP social-media activist was also arrested over allegations that she shared a post originally published by “Ghana Jollof.” Police later confirmed she was in custody, and she was subsequently granted GH¢20,000 police enquiry bail. The circumstances of that arrest also generated public debate over the methods being used to identify the anonymous commentator.
Akosua Manu said the latest report is troubling given government’s penchant of going after individuals for sharing their opinions. Even more troubling she said is the gender and social-protection implications of the reported operations, particularly where women with dependent children are involved.
“Women and children cannot become collateral damage in the search for one anonymous commentator. Who assumes responsibility for those children when a primary caregiver is suddenly removed from the household? Who ensures their safety, care and emotional wellbeing? What safeguards exist to prevent children from becoming the unintended casualties of state enforcement actions?” she asked.
She further criticised the circulation of photographs of women on social media amid speculation about their possible connection to “Ghana Jollof”, insisting that suspicion cannot substitute for evidence.
Akosua Manu acknowledged the state’s responsibility to investigate suspected offences but said security agencies must establish credible evidence and operate within constitutional limits.
She therefore called for the immediate disclosure of the whereabouts and custodial status of Salomey Baffoe and any other woman being held in connection with the investigation.
“If there is credible evidence that she has committed an offence, let the law take its course through the proper constitutional processes. But if there is no lawful basis for holding her, let this mother go home to her children,” she said.
