As I sit in my office at Ridge, Accra, staring at the headlines in the Daily Graphic about drug trafficking, my heart sinks. Last week at the Accra High Court, I watched helplessly as Abena, a 21-year-old single mother from Kumasi, was sentenced to 10 years at Nsawam Prison.

Let me tell you straight – this girl was set up. Plain and simple.

Abena was a house help at East Legon, working for one of those big men in a mansion. You know the type – the ones who appear from nowhere with big cars and bigger houses. This man promised her heaven – told her she’d travel to Dubai to buy goods for his shop. For a girl who had never seen past Kumasi Central Market, this was a dream.

The whole thing was suspicious from the start. My colleague, one of these big-time lawyers at Airport Residential Area, rejected her case because “she couldn’t pay.” Herh, sometimes the love for money in this country will kill us all.

I took the case, especially after hearing how this girl ended up at Kotoka International Airport with cocaine in her luggage. The so-called ‘big man’ had handled everything – her passport, visa, even packed her bag. He told her it contained samples for his business partners.

My husband, a CID officer at Police Headquarters, tried to help investigate. We went to East Legon to find this man. Ei! The house was empty. Neighbors said he packed out at dawn like a thief. We checked with National Security, Immigration, even the landlord – nothing. The man vanished like kokroko.

Things got scary. Strange calls started coming to my phone. One evening at Airport Shell, a tinted V8 followed me all the way to Spintex. My husband noticed too. As a CID officer who has seen how these drug barons operate in Ghana, he begged me to back off. “Maame, these people are dangerous. They can harm our children,” he warned.

At court, we tried everything. Brought character witnesses from her hometown in Kumasi. Her pastor came to testify. Even her former school teacher from Ashanti Region spoke about her good character. But you know our system – once drugs are involved, especially at Kotoka, they don’t want to hear anything.

The judge gave her 10 years. Straight. No mercy. You should have seen how the girl broke down, speaking Twi through tears, “Me ba no, me ba no…” (My child, my child…)

My husband says we should adopt her two-year-old daughter. The girl is now with Abena’s elderly mother in Kumasi, struggling to even feed her. But adopting her won’t erase what happened.

The real criminals are still out there, probably in their big houses in Trasacco or Adjiriganor, planning their next move. They’re using more innocent girls like Abena, who only want better lives for their children.

To my fellow lawyers in Ghana – how long will we watch this continue? We know these drug barons. They live among us. They attend our churches and mosques. Their children go to school with our children. Yet we stay quiet.

As I write this from my office, watching the rain fall over Accra, I can’t help but think of Abena in Nsawam. Ten years. Her child will be twelve when she comes out. All because some heartless person decided to use a poor girl’s dreams against her.

This isn’t just Abena’s story. It’s the story of many young Ghanaian women being used as drug mules. Today it’s Abena, tomorrow it could be your house help, your sister, or your daughter.

To that big man who set up Abena – karma will find you. As we say in Twi, “Nyame betua wo ka.” (God will repay you).