Four persons suspected to be involved in the murder of the late Member of Parliament for the Mfantseman Constituency, Ekow Quansah Hayford, have been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment each specifically for robbery.

The four were jailed for a separate robbery incident they were involved in weeks after the killing of the former legislator.

According to the police, the convicts will be made to face the courts again for the charge of murder.

The Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, COP Ken Yeboah, said while the police were investigating the October 2020 killing of the former MP, they received information about a robbery incident on the Jakobo-Obuasi highway on 11th May 2021.

Four of the robbers were arrested by a patrol team, while one was shot dead.

The police said during interrogation, the suspects confessed to being involved in the murder of the then legislator.

“They were charged with robbery based on the fact of the May 11, 2021 incident, that is the highway robbery on the Jakobo-Obuasi road. On 18th of June 2021, after the trial, they were convicted and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment each,” he said.

“All the convicts are to be arraigned before the court in respect of the robbery and murder of the late Ekow Quansah Hayford. It means that we are now going to charge them and try them for the murder of the MP,” the CID boss stated.

Mr. Hayford, aged 50, was shot by gunmen who stopped his vehicle on the Abeadze-Dominase–Abeadze-Duadzi-Mankessim road when he was returning from a campaign trip on Thursday, October 8, 2020.

His driver was left wounded.

Mr. Hayford is believed to have responded to queries from the attackers, who sought to know if he was indeed the Member of Parliament for the Constituency.