Boakye Djan's nephew cries out

A grieving nephew of the late Kyeremeh Djan, junior brother of exiled Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) capo, Captain Kojo Boakye Djan, has rubbished the recently published book on the treason trial, accusing the author, a former judge of the then National Public Tribunal of “blatant facts twisting.”

Philip Atta Boakye, who says he personally witnessed the torture of his uncle who was later to be executed by firing squad for his alleged role in a coup attempt, described Mr George Agyekum’s 446-page book, “The Treason Trial of 1986 - Torture and Revolutionary Injustices” as a face-saving venture.

Motivation for the book, he contends, is a desire on the part of Agyekum to “make money and to keep Ghanaians in the dark about some of the horrific, macabre episodes that characterized their detention and trial.”

Atta Boakye, a torture victim himself, reacted to the story contained in the book in an emotional, no-holds-barred interview with the Chronicle last week, emphasizing that the main facts were twisted for reasons best known to Mr Agyekum.

Mr Agyekum, the author of the book, should tell Ghanaians why he refused to allow Kyeremeh Djan and Mawuli Goka (a friend of Kyeremeh Djan) to remove their clothes and show the deep cuts inflicted on them by their captors to the court.”

“Was George Agyekum not the presiding tribunal chairman who used his immense experience as a legal man to craftily twist issues just to get a conviction against Kyeremeh Djan and the rest?” he queried.

“The first time I saw Mr George Agyekum was at the National Tribunal at the State House where he was presiding over the case involving the late Kyeremeh Djan and others,” he exclaimed.

Atta Boakye warned that men like George Agyekum ought to be watched carefully. He disclosed he was a principal witness in the treason case, adding that he would have suffered a similar fate but for the intervention of Mr Peter Nanfuri, former Inspector General of Police and then Director of the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI).

“Thank God, Peter Nanfuri, who was then the BNI Director and his team of investigators could not see to a 23-year ‘A’ level student being charged with treason, he stated.

He said the BNI and the security forces made everything humanly possible to put words in his mouth, purposely to crucify his uncle, Kyeremeh Djan. “Nothing spooked me more than seeing the flesh of my uncle chopped off and given to Mawuli Goka to eat.” Mawuli was also executed by firing squad for his alleged role in an attempted coup, Chronicle can say.

“I cannot tell Ghanaians about the horrifying experiences I went through at the BNI. I was tortured on countless number of occasions and this was always after midnight at the BNI headquarters where I was interrogated for more than six months.”

Months of torture could not break the spirit of Boakye, but when agents of the BNI threatened to hand him over to crack commandos who know how to beat the truth out of stubborn people, Atta cracked and admitted what his uncle had not done, Chronicle learnt.

“I knew they were going to kill my uncle but I wanted them to carry on with the killing earlier but the commandos and the BNI were only interested in the torture,” he explained.

After such threats, everybody was broken down, especially families of many victims, however, everyone was ready to say anything at all to please the captors so that the entire nation could enjoy peace, he explained. Boakye pointed out to the Chronicle that the BNI tried to throw dust in the eyes of the people by presenting all the allegations leveled against them as true.

Detainees were forced to make confessions under duress, he revealed. Peter Nanfuri and his team used the said tactics so perfectly that George Agyekum in his calibre as a tribunal chairman and his panel convicted them without hearing the other side.

Jack Bebli only acted upon instructions of their bosses, Jerry Rawlings, Kojo Tsikata and George Pattington, he alleged. If Jack Bebli acted wrongly and like a madman he did so for a number of reasons, he narrated. He described Jack Bebli as a “block-headed man, a beast, a drug user and added to all that a ruthless murderer.”

In a scathing article published by the Chronicle a few weeks ago, another victim of the Rawlings era, Mike Adjei, criticised Mr George Agyekum over his publication.