65year old woman, Abena Konsua, also known as Maa Abena, who spent 28 years in prison and 4years in remand for allegedly poisoning her rival’s son has disclosed how she is now a free woman after being sentenced to death.
Abena Konsua, in an interview with Rev. Nyansa Boakwa, explained that during her time in prison awaiting her sentence to be carried out, some media people visited them and interviewed them so they can share their stories to the world.
After the interviews, they were given the chance to write petitions which would be sent to the government. She stated that they could not send appeals because they were never replied to and there was no one to lead them on that walk, hence, they made great use of that opportunity.
According to her, whenever they wanted to send appeals, they were told by the authorities that their files were not in their possession, hence, if they wanted to appeal, they were supposed to tell their family members to go bring their papers, then they could proceed.
However, Abena did not have anyone she could turn to, thus, appealing was now out of the options for her. Lucky enough, she knew one woman who had already served 21years in prison and was out following the reconciliation process. Reconciliation is when the grudged family decides that they are content with the prison time the accused has served and would now want the authorities to release them.
Abena called her ex-convict friend who took it upon herself to reach out to her family as well as the family of her rival so they could come together and try to reconcile so that Abena could be freed from prison.
The first family member of Abena’s rival told her friend that he had no say in the issue and directed her to go to the family members who were involved. Upon finding them, their only reply was that they even needed Abena back home so they would soon come to the accused’s house to settle the issue with her family.
According to her, her husband’s pastor told him that he handled the issue the wrong way and advised that he go take his wife out of jail but for five whole years, nothing was heard of him and none of her rival’s family showed up to reconcile with her family.
Abena narrated that she kept on with her faith and prayer till one day, some doctors came around and asked her whom they should call if she dies and she did not reply. She was then told that someone had come to visit her and it turned out the young lady was her daughter.
She stated that she did not know what was going on and why the doctors had asked her that because it could have been that she was being transferred or even her sentence was about to be carried out. According to her, she had not the slightest idea that she was about to be released especially because she had been sentenced to death.
Not long after, she started hearing rumours of being released from prison and God, hearing her prayers and seeing her faith, turned that rumour into her testimony.
Rev. Nyansa Boakwa, hearing the sad story of sixty-five year old Abena Konsua and knowing that she has no reliable family members to turn to, has put out an appeal for funds on the show, to support her and her daughter.
To help support Abena and her daughter, kindly send in your donations to 0249507249. All donations will be summed up and presented to her by Rev. Nyansa Boakwa and his Nsem Pii team on Friday, 31st January.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye