There is suspicion of foul play in the sudden death of the aspiring New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the Asante Mampong constituency, in the Ashanti Region, Beatrice Nana Yaa Owarewaa Siaw, linking it to a possible poisoning.
The deceased was raised in the United States (US) but relocated to Ghana, having her eyes on the safe Asante Mampong seat.
She variously expressed her intention to contest the seat in the next primaries, backing her plans with scattered projects worth GHs40 billions as claimed in interviews.
She claimed in one of her interviews that she was a threat to the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Kwaku Apramtwum.-Sarpong.
“I think so. If I was an MP and someone spent GHs40 billion in coming after my position, I will look at them as a threat. But sometimes how I view things and how somebody else views things will be different. He may feel oh I am at the senior level in the party, I have been in the party for a long time, have been on the seat for 3 consecutive terms, so I know how to play the system and get what I want.
But sometimes, if God says yes who can say no? And if the people are demanding for change it is the same people, it is not money. It is the people who will give the nod even if you give them GHs1 or GHs10, 000, if they say yes then it is a yes, if they say no then it is a no. So things are changing and he is unpopular at Asante Mampong for now”, she said in an interview while in the constituency.
The business woman shockingly died last week under some curious circumstances, forcing the family to ask the public to allow them space to come to terms with her demise and properly mourn their beloved member.
But shortly after that request, there are allegations that she may have been poisoned.
No mean a person is making the allegation than the late Nana Yaa’s Campaign Manager, one Yaw Takyi. According to him, Nana Yaa vomited and eased herself before dying.
“Because I was informed they saw at her residence, it was an eyesore. They said she eased herself and vomited at her Kumasi Daban house.
He went further to tell how he got the terrible news from someone from the hospital.
“Someone called me from Komfo Anokye asking if I have heard anything and I said no and I told the person she has gone to China. So I did conference call and he asked me to mention Beatrice car number so I did then he said it is her. The car was at Komfo Anokye”, he disclosed how he heard the news for the first time.
Speaking to the media at Mampong, disturbed Takyi divulged further information. He said he was informed that the deceased after the mess at home managed to drive to a pharmacy to purchase drugs.
On her way to her vehicle, she was seen collapsing and so onlookers swiftly rushed her to a nearby clinic.
Noticing her worsening condition, she was immediately referred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
He continued “The eyewitness that narrated said that she left her residence to the pharmacy so when she was about entering her car after getting the drugs, they noticed she was falling off. People around rushed to her aide and drove her to Asofo Agyei Hospital, there they referred her to Komfo Anokye where she was pronounced dead.
At the time of speaking to the media, he said, the body has been deposited at the teaching hospital for autopsy. He stressed the family is requesting for autopsy of their member considering the circumstances leading to her death.
“If you see something like this [toilet and vomit] then there should be an investigation to ascertain whether it is poison or she was sick and vomited. For that it is doctors and nurses that can confirm. So we are waiting for those who were sent to the hospital”, the Campaign Manager said with his red eyes filled with tears”.
Takyi, who fondly remembered the remarkable works of Nana Yaa earlier before her demise, he had met the deceased at Mampong where they were registering members of the NPP but the numbers were not encouraging so she asked permission to leave.
He said Nana Yaa informed him that she was going to travel to China for the purchase of some machines for her campaign and political activities hearing of her death was a shocking news to him.
Nana Yaw had gained prominence in the media following her wild claim that she has spent more than GHs4 billion in areas of projects for the people of Mampong. She had promised to snatch the seat from the incumbent MP who served under former President Akufo-Addo as deputy Foreign Minister.
In one of her many interviewes, Nana Yaa, who earned them name ‘Mampong dechie’ disclosed that her relationship with the MP was not a cordial one. She said it followed a clash him about his age and after that she was blocked on phone.
By Gifty Boateng