Pekis and Tsitos
are not fighting
Achuliwor who is also a Member of
Parliament was receiving intensive care at the Korle Bu Teaching hospital. He
was travelling in the company of two others, the NPP’s
Upper West Regional Organiser, Mahmoud and his driver
who died on the spot. Mahmoud has undergone a
successful operation at the Komfo Anokye Teaching
Hospital in
The accident occurred near Ejisu on Saturday when their vehicle ran into a broken down articulated truck loaded with iron rods. This is the second time that the NPP has lost a Member of Parliament. In July last year, the NPP MP for Kumawu, Reo Addai Basoah died after a short illness.
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Asonomaso (Ashanti Region)
Thirteen of the victims died on the spot while the others
died at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in
They were Eva Opoku Tuffuor, Sumailatu Abubakar, Abibu Tairu, the driver of the 207 Mercedes Benz bus, Ajara Shabibu and Adwoa Serwaa. The rest are Akua Mansa, Awuni Anaba, Abiba Sulemana, Lampo Sababa and Akua Nyarko.
According to eye-witnesses, the accident involved the Benz
bus and a
A police source at the Mamponteng Police station said that when the police received the message about the accident and rushed to the scene, they found that 13 people had died on the spot. It said those who died were made up of 11 males and seven females.
The source said that the police hurriedly helped to convey the injured to the hospital where the remaining five died later. The source, however, appealed to the general public to help identify the rest of the dead.
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Although many tomato farms suffered invasions by a pest named nematode, which seriously affected tomato production in parts of the region, the farmers were hopeful that they could recover the losses as the produce did not generally do well and prices were expected to go high as a result of scarcity.
The produce, however, is rotting on farms at the Vea and Tono irrigation dams and
the
At about this same period last year, a crate of tomatoes sold for about 350,000 cedis, but at present, the situation is quite different. Even at a very low price of 180,000 cedis, there are few buyers.
The supply of tomatoes at the local markets far exceeds the demand, thereby worsening the plight of the farmers.
A survey conducted by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga indicated that just a handful of the market
queens from southern
Stephen Azantilo, a public servant who has gone into the tomato business said his expectations were that after the nematode disease had affected most farms in the area with everything pointing to a lean harvest, he and his colleagues took consolation in the fact that they could make some significant profit as their crop was not affected by the pest.
Another farmer, John Akaribo, who is also Assemblyman for the Nyariga-Done electoral area, expressed similar sentiments and appealed to the government through the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) to, as a matter of urgency, assist farmers to market their produce.
Already the regional office of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) has put an announcement on the local URA-radio FM station advising farmers on temporary strategies they should adopt to minimise the nematode infection in the area.
Tomato farming is being widely undertaken in recent times by most unemployed youth, civil and public servants as well as the traditional farmers, because it is seen as one of the most lucrative jobs available in the dry season. However, the enterprise is also becoming increasingly risky as the present situation has indicated.
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Isaac Adu-Boahene, Director-General of Ghana Post, who discussed the old and projected monthly fuel costs in an interview with the paper, hinted at a possible increase in postal service tariffs to help recover cost.
Adu-Boahene would not give figures as yet but explained that besides fuel prices other factors such as airfreight could necessitate an increase in postal tariffs.
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Ho (Volta Region)
Ali is presently being treated for gonorrhoea he allegedly contracted through sodomy with Dinning, who works with Great Lakes Company, engaged on the Keta Sea Defence Project.
Ali made the disclosure when he appeared before the Aflao Circuit Court on Tuesday charged with practising
unnatural sex, which is against the laws of
Great Lakes Security Personnel at the company's residential
camp near Weta arrested Ali for unlawful entry at
about
Ali was taken to the
A source at the Keta Divisional
Police Command told the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday that the Police had
written to the British High Commission in
The source said this is the second time Dinning has been accused of practicing sodomy and that on a previous occasion the Police discontinued investigations on instructions from the Attorney General's Department for lack of evidence.
Ali reportedly told the Police that he had been a friend of
Dinning since he met him in
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Justice Kwame Afreh sitting at an Accra High on 20 December last year,
ruled that the church should not go by that name when the mother Church,
Evangelical Presbyterian (E.P) Church, Ghana had filed a motion to that effect.
The
It said "the learned trial
judge erred when he held that the Plaintiffs were competent to bring and maintain
the instant action and again judge erred in granting injunction against the
defendants to restrain them from using their present name or any combination
thereof of excluding the word 'Presbyterian'.
No date has been fixed for
hearing of the appeal, which was filed on 31 December last year.
Reverend Setorwu Kodzo Ofori, a pastor at the Head
Office of the
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Aflao (Volta Region) 30 January 2003-
John Dinning, a British Expatriate employee of the Great Lakes Company, engaged
on the Keta Sea Defence Project, is to be questioned
by the Police over his alleged involvement in sodomy.
This followed a report by
23-year-old William Ali of Matse-Gbegbe, near Ho,
that he had been practicing sodomy with Dinning for the past three years at a
fee of 200,000 cedis a session.
Ali is presently being treated
for gonorrhoea he allegedly contracted through sodomy with Dinning. He appeared
before the Aflao Circuit Court on Tuesday charged
with practising unnatural sex and was remanded in Police custody till 4
February. His plea was not taken.
Samuel Oppong,
Chief Inspector in-charge of Denu Police told the
Court presided over by Godwin Kwasi-Kumah that at
about
He said on 22 January this year,
while in custody, Ali complained of pains in his male organ and repeated the
complaint the following day during interrogations, this time with a whitish
discharge from his male organ.
Oppong said upon further questioning,
Ali alleged that he was at the camp at Dinning's
invitation and that he had been visiting the expatriate for sodomy. Ali was
taken to the
A source at the Keta Divisional Police Command told the Ghana News Agency
on Wednesday that the Police had written to the British High Commission in
The source said this is the
second time Dinning was accused of practicing sodomy and that on a previous
occasion the Police discontinued investigations on instructions from the
Attorney General's Department for lack of evidence.
Ali reportedly told the Police
that he had been a friend of Dinning since he met him in
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 30 January
2003- Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Alex Yartey
Tawiah on Wednesday told the Sunyani Magistrate Court
that the police wanted to use Dr Kofi Baah Nyamekye, a medical officer in-charge of the Akropong Health Centre in Ashanti Region, as a prosecution
witness in a framed-up rape case pending before the court.
Tawiah explained to the court that
following 17-year old Emelia Danquah's confession that
the case was calculated to implicate Joseph Amankwaah,
a photographer in Sunyani, there was no charge against Dr Nyamekye.
He said prosecution was in the
process of investigating the case and needed Dr Nyamekye
rather to give a statement to the police as a witness but he was refusing to
co-operate. Anthony Yeboah, counsel for the accused, replied that his client
had "a constitutional right to silence" as he was not bound by law to
give a statement to the police or even to speak in his defence in court.
He said the burden therefore,
was on the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused. ''If prosecution knew
that they had not finished with investigation into the case why did they
arraign the client before the court?” he asked.
The court on Monday January 7
issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Dr Nyamekye
and two others now at large for issuing a fake medical report and fabricating
an alleged rape case against Amankwaah.
The case however, took a new
twist when on 15 January the alleged rape victim confessed that the incident
was a hoax.
She said she had rather had an
affair with one Alhassan Ali before reporting at the
hospital that she had been raped. Emelia said she had sexual intercourse with Alhassan at a hotel in
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Pekis and Tsitos
are not fighting
Accra (Northern Region) 30
January 2003- The Peki Traditional Council on
Wednesday said the recent two murders in the Peki and
Tsito area were outside the disputed area between
them and that it has nothing to do with the Peki-Tsito
conflict.
Togbe Ayim Ameyibor V, Adontenhene of Peki told newsmen in
Togbe Ameyibor,
who is a retired Major of the Ghana Army, urged the security authorities to
treat the recent incident as murder and institute investigations "as it
has no linkage with the land dispute."
He said: "the murder
incident of 9 January which took place at a cottage near Kpetonu
lies outside the land in dispute as well as the second one on 13 January which
also occurred on Peki-Dzogbati soil located outside
the disputed land."
"It is therefore, clear
that the said murders have nothing to do with Peki people nor with the land in dispute to warrant
the Volta Region Security Council (REGSEC) to restrict Pekis
from going to their farms, which is the only source of obtaining foodstuffs for
survival."
He said intelligent reports
gathered on the two murders indicated similar modus operandi, stressing that
both incidents took place before
He said: "after analysing
the way and manner the said killings were done by the assailants, we are of the
firm opinion that they were murder committed by individuals under the guise of
a so called conflict situation in respect to the Peki
Avetile-Tsito Awudome land
dispute."
Togbe Ameyibor
appealed to newsmen to be guided by the principles of objectivity and fairness
to all parties in conflict and show high sense of neutrality. He called on the
media to be circumspect, balanced and respect traditional norms and values of
conflict areas in their reportage.
"Conflict zones are highly volatile, hence the need for circumspection and high sense
of decorum in news gathering on conflicts since any unguided report or
statement has the potential of aggravating the situation".
He said news items on the recent
murders were proving to be highly inflammatory of the situation as far as the
situation has no linkage with the conflict. "Some are totally untrue, many
more are ill founded and or ill-motivated speculation and even in some cases
where the reports are correct, they are reports that are calculated to inflame
the situation," the Adontehene said.
Togbe Ameyibor
reminded media practitioners that the calm in the area was fragile and needed
to be nurtured into a lasting peace. "This is a time to show maturity and
sense of responsibility, titillating scoops, especially when they are wrong but
even when they are right but endanger the security of the area and the people,
will not help."
The Daily Graphic reported on
January 16, that the Volta Regional Security Council (REGSEC) has initiated
moves to stem the wanton murder of people on the disputed land between the Pekis and the Tsitos.
The report, quoting a REGSEC
statement, said the military and the police have been deployed in the area to
prevent entry into and exit from the disputed areas. This followed the brutal
murder of four persons by unidentified gunmen between 9 and 13 January this
year.
The deceased were Maxwell Adzigo 19 years who was beheaded and Auntie Adzigo 22 in their village at Agorme,
near Kpetonu.
Unidentified gunmen on their
farm at Dzogbati-Peki also killed two elderly women,
Mercy Kumah and Amagbu Britibi.
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Airport (Greater Accra) 30
January 2003- The UN Secretary-General's humanitarian envoy for the Ivorian
crisis, Ms Carolyn McAskie arrived in Accra on
Wednesday from Abidjan to begin a two-day visit as part of a tour of five West
African countries to find out how the crisis is affecting them.
They are
Speaking to journalists at the
Airport, Ms. McAskie said one of the main objectives
of the tour is to secure commitment from the warring parties for humanitarian
access to all people in need of assistance and protection of civilians,
including their safety and security.
She said she would also focus on
raising awareness of the growing complexity of the humanitarian situation in
Ms McAskie
said her outfit is putting in place a mechanism that would cater for an
estimated half a million refugees and would seek donor support to cater for the
refugees.
Ms McAskie
described the situation in
Whilst in the country Ms McAskie would call on President John Agyekum Kufuor and
hold discussion with relevant ministers as well as meet with the heads of UN
agencies in
She would also hold discussions
with
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 January
2003- Thomas Albrecht, the representative of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ghana has appealed to host nations to
uphold the principles of asylum.
He said studies had shown that
the world could face more persecutions, wars and human rights violations
against civilians. "Clearly, instability and conflicts continue in many
parts of the world and as a consequence it is easy to foresee that more people
will be forced to flee their homes and Liberia today is yet again a vivid
example," he said.
A document sub-titled
"UNHCR Future Directions" obtained by the GNA quoted Albrecht as
saying this dismal picture called for serious efforts by nations to uphold the
important principle of asylum for refugees.
According to him the complexity
of population movement was placing the concept and practice of asylum in an
ambiguous position. "The institution of asylum is the most important
refugee protection instrument at the disposal of the international
community."
Albrecht said frequently,
economic migrants resorted to asylum because that was their only way to remain
and obtain employment. However, this blurred the picture, as genuine refugees
were often identified with illegal immigrants.
"They are seen as intruders
whose goal is to take away jobs and profit from an undeserved share of social
welfare. Yet refugees fleeing conflict and persecution have legitimate claims.
"Very often they are
severely traumatised having suffered or witnessed terrible acts, physical and
psychological violence," he said. Albrecht said it was important for host
countries to concern themselves with the urgent necessity to assist communities
affected and divided by conflict to rebuild their lives together in a spirit of
coexistence.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 January
2003- The Ministry of Health will this year provide a budget allocation of 24
billion cedis for all government health institutions to cover exemptions for
the aged, pregnant women, children under five years and paupers.
Last year, the Ministry provided
21 billion cedis whereas in 2001 it provided an amount of 12 billion cedis. Dr
Samuel Akor, Director for Policy, Planning,
Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME), of the Ministry in an interview with the
Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra said though the provision was an increase over
that of last year, it was not enough to meet the demands of the hospitals.
He said because the provision
was not enough it was depriving many people from benefiting from the
exemptions. Dr Akor explained that the exemptions
were only to cover diseases like malaria, and other communicable diseases.
He noted that the exemption
policy would be reviewed and to probably include the coverage of chronic diseases
and with the introduction of the health insurance scheme many aspects of health
would be covered.
He said the Teaching Hospitals
were not part of the institutions to execute the exemption policy and urged
patients to patronise the districts and polyclinics where equal quality
services would be rendered.
"The teaching hospitals like Korle-Bu is a referral institution and one
would only be seen and covered by the exemption when referred from a clinic or
a polyclinic". "It is very unfortunate that many people in
This habit he said has put
pressure on Korle-Bu thereby overstretching their facilities. Reacting to the
recent lawsuit by the Legal Resource Centre against the Ministry of a pauper
being detained at the
He explained that to determine
whether a patient was a pauper or not, it is established by social workers in
the hospitals who investigate the background of the patient. He said the
exemptions were only applied in the districts and polyclinics and not in the
teaching hospitals.
Dr Akor
urged the public to patronise the districts hospitals and the polyclinics since
they also offer equally good services to reduce the inconveniences patients go
through.
Dr Kofi Osae
Addadey, Greater Accra Regional Health Director, also
told the GNA that efforts were being made to refurbish and improve facilities
in the district hospitals as well as the polyclinics for people to enjoy and
ease the pressure on
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 January
2003- Boniface Abubakari Sidique,
Independent Member of Parliament for Salaga
Constituency has said, with the support and trust he has received from the
government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), if he would join any party for the
2004 parliamentary elections then it would be the NPP.
"This is because we fight
and go forward not backwards, however my decision would be made in June this
year', he added. Sidique who was speaking to the
Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra on Tuesday said he has the support
of the people in his constituency and was therefore, very sure of retaining his
seat.
Sidique, who is also a Deputy Minister
of Trade and Industry said, "I was optimistic because one determines his
strength by his weight and although I believe it is the mandate of the people
in the constituency to decide who to vote for, I am sure they will wish to
retain me than any other person.
He said it was just a few
elements in the NPP in the constituency who think they could overpower him and
are making such baseless allegations. These people,
accused Sidique of not visiting his constituency and
that he was sowing seeds of discord among his constituents.
The statement said to have been
made at a press conference held by nine ward Chairmen of the New Patriotic
Party in the Kalpe area of the East Gonja District of
the Northern Region.
Sidique said since he won the seat he
has been of great help to his people, which they themselves could attest to,
especially the students in the tertiary level. "I have also initiated some
developmental projects in the constituency and has
maintained a very cordial relationship with the people in the area.
"I visit the constituency
very often and listen to the problems of the people and do all I can to
alleviate the level of poverty facing them," he said. Sidique
said he had just managed to get a number of roofing sheets and bags of cement
which would be given to some primary schools in villages like Talkpa, Sualihiya, Adevukpe, Jamtuto, Makango Day Nursery, Kinkili, Kulpi, Kpolo and Boja where children still sit under trees to learn.
Yusuf Ahmed, a member of the
constituency said the main object of those individuals is to undermine the
laudable work of the MP in the constituency and thus deprive the people of
progress and prosperity. He said the latest baseless allegations followed a
pattern of political chicanery, which had become the stock-trade of political
opponents of the MP in the constituency.
Ahmed said the performance of
the MP since his election to parliament speaks for itself, adding that even the
visits alone by the MP to his constituency were unprecedented in the political
annals of the constituency.
He said the dynamism,
effectiveness, kind and caring gestures of the MP has made his political
opponents not only jittery and uncomfortable. "They are hell-bent in
employing negative and divisive tactics to achieve their goal." He called
on the constituents to lend their support to the incumbent MP who he said, was
working tirelessly to improve the welfare of the people.
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Obuasi (Western Region)
In a statement signed by its
chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Ocquaye
and issued at Obuasi in reaction to the publication
by the "Daily Graphic", the party said its members were rather
mourning and in grief with the poor and the grassroots where they belong.
It noted that whilst it cannot
deny the possibility of individual members expressing their views about the
petrol increases, the party sees the attempt by the reporter to paint the
party's image black, as reckless, dishonest and insincere.
The statement held that the
story was "a deliberate and calculated attempt to twist facts to bring the
party into disrepute", thereby creating the avenue for the authorities in
the district to clamp down on the revived activities of the party in the
constituency.
The party explained that it was
on record that the constituency branch had been buoyant since the new
executives were elected into office and as a sequel to the new life, the members had decided to do keep-fit exercise every
Saturdays and Sundays as an added strategy to rejuvenate the spirit of the
party.
"No one can deny the fact
that this peaceful exercise started a week earlier when no one expected the
quantum of increases in petroleum prices that has caused ordinary people
mourning all over the country".
The party stated that, "we
are for peace for we have no other place to go if this country is divided and
as such we have seen the ploy by the NPP through their hirelings to lure
Ghanaians into a major protest which will give them the excuse of having been
prevented to end their term of office".
The statement said the party
would resist all temptations and give the NPP the chance to prove to Ghanaians
the kind of solutions they have to the country's problems till "God speaks
again".
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 30 January
2003- New Patriotic Party (NPP) General Secretary, Dan Botwe,
has emphasized that complacency would have no place in the party as it prepares
for the 2004 general elections.
He said the hierarchy of the
party was studying the cause of their failure in the areas they did not do well
in the last election. "This will enable us correct our mistakes and adopt
measures that will win us more seats in all parts of the country, including the
Volta Region," he said.
Botwe said this in an interview with
the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Sunyani during the recent Brong-Ahafo Regional
delegates' Congress of the Party. On the increases in petroleum prices, the
General Secretary said the Government did not feel elated in projecting the
prices but it considered it prudent to take that decision in the supreme
interest of the nation.
Botwe disclosed that even with the
increment, it would take
He added: "we cannot dream
of any progress whilst we wallow in a quagmire of indebtedness". Botwe stated that special depots would be established in
all the regions to buy cassava and other food items to help alleviate the
burden of farmers.
Botwe expressed high hopes that the
NPP would win the Wulensi by-election to be conducted
by the Electoral Commission, following the disqualification of the incumbent
MP.
He was, however, quick to admit
that the expected victory would not be taken on a silver platter since the seat
had been for the National Democratic Congress (NDC). He therefore, called on
all party faithful to gird their loins and work hard to return the party to
power in the next general elections.
Botwe described as baseless
allegations by certain individuals that some NPP Ministers and DCEs were
involved in corrupt practices, and threw a challenge that all those making such
allegations should pin-point the Government officials found to have indulged in
corrupt practices as they claim.
He gave the assurance that the mass
transportation programme introduced by the Government would soon be extended to
all parts of the country, but could, however, not be specific as how soon that
would take off.
He explained that the programme
had begun in
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 January
2003- George Philip Okine, former Principal Revenue
Collector of the Accra City Council (ACC), now Accra Metropolitan Assembly
(AMA), on Wednesday alleged that Mr Enoch Teye
Mensah, former Youth and Sports Minister, ordered his torture in 1985.
He told the National
Reconciliation Commission (NRC) that he was arrested by soldiers on three
occasions and sent to the Castle and
Narrating the incidents that led
to his arrest and torture, Okine who constantly
repeated that he was popularly known as "Baby Okine",
said he worked for 31 years with the ACC as Principal Revenue Officer in charge
of the day-to-day revenue collection in the markets, stores, from hawkers and
others within the
He said he personally went on
routine checks to ensure that revenue was being effectively mobilised. Okine said reports reached him on one of his routine checks
that some five women, popularly known then as the fearsome five, never reported
to work until late in the month when they came and collected their salaries.
Baby Okine
said in that particular month they only came to work for three days and so he
ordered that their salaries should be withheld. "I invited them into my
office and told them of my intention to pay them for only the three days they
reported to work," he said. "They did not apologise but rather
reported me to my boss, E. T. Mensah."
He said he was invited to
explain why he had withheld the salaries of the fearsome five, adding that he
was let go after his explanation. Okine said after a
few days he was in his office when four soldiers came and picked him up,
molested and humiliated him before his subordinates and superiors and took him
to the
"I was told by the soldiers
that my boss, E. T. Mensah ordered my arrest and torture," he said.
"I was released only after one of the soldiers identified me as the junior
brother of Major Seth Okine."
Okine said on his return he returned
to post but on consultation with his family and friends he asked for voluntary
retirement in November 1986. He said one month before the letter of approval of
his retirement came in April 1987, he was picked up on
He said at the Castle his
clothes and shoes were removed, an amount of 960 cedis taken from him and he
was shaved, adding that he was kept there for at least three days before being
released.
"After that I was picked up
again to the Cantonment Police Station and detained there for three weeks for
no apparent reason. All I was told was that my arrest was ordered by E. T.
Mensah," he said.
Okine said he has retired from ACC
and has since been receiving his pension benefits of a little over 250,000
cedis every month. Madam Vera Kwarley Quartey, a
former staff of the ACC, corroborated the story of Mr Okine
saying that he (Mr Okine) was her boss and she
witnessed the arrest, molestation and unlawful detention.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 January
2003- Police Sergeant Anthony Erzuah, has appealed to
the Ghana Police Service to avoid discrimination in service conditions and
other welfare benefits to the detriment of the junior ranks in the Service.
"No junior police is now
working with a pure mind, and if the conditions of the junior ranks are not
improved, we will never see a proper Police Service," Sergeant Erzuah told the National Reconciliation Commission when he
testified before the Commission on Wednesday at the Old Parliament House in
Sergeant Erzuah
said he has now become a perpetual debtor to his bankers and police welfare
union because his salary and compensation of 17,000 cedis following an injury
he sustained during the course of his duties.
He said his salary wasn't enough
to support him, and called for institutional reforms in the Service to bridge
the gap between senior officers for a more efficient Service. Recommendations
for such reforms in public institutions are part of the mandate of the
nine-member commission headed by Justice Kweku Etru Amua-Sekyi.
Sergeant Erzuah,
who limped on one leg, supported by a false left leg told the Commission that
he lost his leg when soldiers shot at it when he was on duty at the
Broadcasting House in
He said following his
amputation, he felt much pain in the limb and felt as if he was dead for about
30 minutes before he could feel free adding, "it
is unpleasant situation".
He said he only had 17,000 cedis
as compensation from the Service, and was given 196,000 in 1996, about one
third of his salary by then, after several petitions to the Service. According
to Sergeant Erzuah, he was on guard duties at the
Broadcasting House on
He said about 500 metres to
where they were, soldiers in the armoured cars began
firing at the policemen on duty. He said they decided to get into a small
standby armoured car, but they realised that soldiers who were firing shots had
surrounded the entire yard.
Sergeant Erzuah
said one of the shots hit his left leg, he fell
unconscious and came around on the sixth day on a bed at the 37 Military
Hospital, where he spent three months on admission. During the admission, his
left leg was declared 100 per cent damaged.
Sergeant Erzuah
said he was later referred to a hospital in Koforidua, where he was fitted with
an artificial limb. While on admission, the then Inspector General of Police,
Mr Raphael Kugblenu, visited and gave him a verbal
promise that he (Sergeant Erzuah) would be given
promotion, and would be sent abroad for a new fitting of the limb, but those
promises were never fulfilled, Sergeant Erzuah said.
Sergeant Erzuah
said his brother, now deceased paid most of his medical bills, and added that
he was still receiving medical treatment and paid all his bills at the
The 37 Military Hospital, where he is Choirmaster, on the other hand offers
him free medical treatment. He said he lost his first wife, but now remarried
and has six children.
His responsibilities as a
husband and a father, coupled with health problems, he said, made it difficult
for him to pass the police promotion examination for which he has written twice
and failed both to earn him a rank of inspector as colleagues on the same rank
with him since
Professor Florence Abena Dolphyne, a member of the
Commission expressed sympathy at the plight of Sergeant Erzuah,
and encouraged him to make his mind to write and pass his examinations to get
better remunerations and better gratuity on his retirement from the service.
Johnson Asamoah Opare, another witness, now resident at Konkonuru
near Aburi in the Eastern Region, told the Commission
of his unlawful dismissal as Assistant Superintendent of Operations at the Post
and Telecommunication (P&T) Corporation without any compensation in 1984
after working with the corporation for 13 years.
He expressed strong suspicion
that Staff Sergeant Akoto, then Provisional National
Defence Council (PNDC), the military regime of the day's Liaison Officer at the
P&T, who earlier had on several occasions threatened him with being
"cleared", apparently meaning killed, was behind his dismissal.
Opare, also known as Nana Addo Mensah II, said he was dismissed when he was 36 years
old, and that some of his colleagues who suffered the same fate had had double
compensation, but he had not been compensated in any way, and consequent
financial problems prevented him from sending his four elderly children to
school above the senior secondary school level.
The last one, he said was in the
junior secondary school. Those who had completed the senior secondary school
were unemployed. Opare also added that his dismissal
had tarnished his reputation as a traditional ruler.
Sitting continues.
GRi.../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 January
2003- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday sent a congratulatory message
to Indian President Dr A. P.J. Abdul Kalam on the
occasion of that country's National Day, which fell on last Sunday, 26 January.
A statement signed by President
Kufuor said "on the auspicious occasion of the Republic Day of India, I
have the pleasure to extend to Your Excellency, the Government and the people
of India, sincere congratulations on behalf of the Government and people of
Ghana and in my own name".
It said, "it is my fervent
hope that the coming years will further strengthen the bonds of friendship and
mutual co-operation which currently exist between our two countries to enable
us attain the aspirations of our peoples". "Please accept, Excellency,
my sincere best wishes for your personal well-being and for the progress and
prosperity of the people of
GRi.../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 January
2003- Apostle Ampofo Twumasi Ankrah,
founder of the defunct Repentance Church International, on Wednesday alleged
that his penis was electrocuted by men from the Bureau of National
Investigation (BNI) for attempting to answer a question put to him at a crusade
whether Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings would go to heaven.
He told the National
Reconciliation Commission (NRC) that the incident occurred between
Apostle Ankrah
told the Commission that as a result of years of torture by men from the Sekondi and Takoradi Police Stations, Sekondi
Prisons, James Fort Prisons and the BNI Headquarters in Accra his left kidney
functions no more and he has difficulty urinating and is still seeking medical
attention.
"My doctors at the Kaneshie Polyclinic have recommended that I should seek
medical attention abroad to ensure a lasting solution to my problem but I do
not have money to do so," he said.
In his story to the Commission,
Apostle Ankrah said on
He said in the course of the
crusade someone asked: "Since Rawlings is on record as having killed
Generals Acheampong, Akufo and Afrifa among others,
would he go to heaven?" Apostle Ankrah said he
used King David as an example, and answered that if anybody committed a sin and
repented he would be forgiven and allowed into heaven.
Apostle Ankrah
said in the course of the crusade a policeman came to the scene and inquired
why Flt. Lt. Rawlings was the topic of discussion and he (Ankrah)
explained the circumstance that led to his name coming up.
He said the crowd hooted at the
policeman and drove him away. However, he returned with three other policemen
who asked whether he had a permit to organise the crusade.
He said he answered in the
negative with the explanation that he was not aware of any law which required a
permit before one preached. "Apparently, the people in the town had
developed an attitude of hooting at the bribe-taking policemen due to my
preaching against bribery and corruption," adding that "On that
account several policemen had threatened to trap and arrest me,"
Apostle Ankrah
said he was invited to the Sekondi Police Station the
following day,
He said both of them were
detained with he being accused of preaching against
Flt. Lt. Rawlings while Boateng was alleged to be
providing him with financial and logistical assistance to do so.
"They told me that the
people reported that I said Rawlings killed his predecessors for corruption and
he came on the scene looking very skinny but had grown fat in a relatively
shorter time than the people he killed," he said.
He said following those
accusations he was arraigned before the Sekondi
Tribunal with three other young men who were charged with supporting his cause.
Apostle Ankrah said they were remanded for 10 days
and their counsel, Ebo Quarshie
asked for bail for them but the Judge at the time denied them saying he was
afraid to do so.
Apostle Ankrah
said on
"The following day,
He said during that period he
was also sent to James Fort Prisons adding that a Prisons Officer nicknamed
"American man" tortured him and he developed a waist problem and
started seeking constant medical attention at the
Apostle Ankrah
said after 14 months of torture between BNI and James Fort he was sent back to Sekondi Tribunal on
They were tried between August
1989 and May 1990 and he was sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of
50,000 cedis, whilst the four others were fined 20,000 cedis with no
imprisonment terms.
"My mother had to sell her
cocoa farm to engage lawyers to assist me in my trial and in the end she had to
use some of the money to pay the fine whilst I served the two-year
imprisonment," he said.
He said after spending 16 months
in the Sekondi Prisons he was released. However, on
reaching the gates of the prisons he met three armed policemen who put him in a
white Nissan car and sent him to the BNI in
Apostle Ankrah
said when he was released from the BNI, the men from the BNI took him to his
home at Madina and seized all the musical instruments and equipment he used for
his church and his Datsun Violet saloon car, adding
that since that time he has not seen nor heard of them.
"When I was arrested I told
my wife I was going to be killed so she got married whilst I was away," he
said. The members of the Commission comforted Apostle Ankrah
and asked him to forgive his persecutors.
They also observed that the
medical report covering his kidney failure was an old one issued by a hospital
in
GRi.../
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