A man has caused a stir in Accra after faking a suicide attempt by threatening to jump off the Obetsebi Lamptey statue.

The man known as Dr. Think Twice was seen on top of the statue on Tuesday morning complaining life is not worth living because his wife had left him.

His cries gathered pedestrians around the statue and police officers were dispatched to the scene. Eyewitnesses say he was aided by two other men early in the morning to climb the 20-foot statue with a ladder.

A joint effort by the Police and Fire Service rescued the man believed to be middle aged. He was handcuffed and whisked away.

But not before he told Joynews that this was an attempt to embark on an anti-societal pressure campaign.

It turned out, he is into anti-suicide advocacy and faked the attempt to draw attention to what he believes to an ignored crisis.

The Ghana Mental Health Authority has confirmed that there’s a “disturbing” growing trend of suicides, especially among the youth.

“Attempted suicide is not a criminal issue; neither is it a moral issue nor spiritual problem,” says the Head of the Mental Health Authority, Dr. Akwasi Osei. “It is simply a cry for help to resolve psychosocial issues and therefore a medical problem.”

Attempting suicide remains a criminal offence in Ghana but prosecutions of suicidal persons are rare.