Rawlings Ready For Police

Kofi Adams, aide to former President Jerry John Rawlings, has finally stated the position of his boss on President Atta Mills’ directive that investigations be re-opened into the serial murders of some 34 women prior to the 2000 elections, saying Mr. Rawlings thinks it is a step in the right direction.

In an interview with the New Crusading Guide newspaper yesterday, Kofi Adams said, “we all thought it (murders) was serial until we detected in the latter part of the administration that it was political,” and to that end, his boss thinks, “it is a good move to re-open investigations into an act he (Rawlings) said was political.”

Even in the light of the trial and sentence of Charles Quansah, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the murders, aide to the former president said, reinvestigations were important especially in the absence of any thorough work on the on the case.

On the question of whether the Police, who were instructed to conduct the investigations, have contacted the ex-President in respect to the fresh investigations, Kofi Adams said no such communication had been extended to the former President.

He went on to say that Mr. Rawlings was ready to cooperate with the Police whenever they needed his assistance and was prepared to provide them with any proof at his disposal in order that a concrete conclusion is reached on the killings of some 34 Ghanaian women in the run-up to the 2000 elections and thereafter. . When Mr. Rawlings in 2003 met with some senior Police officers on the same matter, he told the investigators he would not disclose the names of the alleged culprits without the government’s acceptance of the principle of subjecting those persons to a chemical interrogation and truth serum test, since he had learned his lessons from the way the government handled the murder of the Ya Na.

He stated that he did not want the truth about his knowledge of the 15 to be massaged by the then government’s ‘propaganda team’

It would be recalled that the President, John Evans Atta Mills, sometime this month ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to reopen investigations into the killing of 34 women in the latter parts of the Rawlings administration and early parts of the Kufuor administration.

The directive though is believed to be coming on the back of pressure from the ex-President who has on countless occasions accused some senior cabinet ministers of the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration of being behind the killings of women.

The Former President in 2003 alleged during an open lecture to mark the "June 4 Uprising," that 15 Ministers of State of the NPP Government were implicated in the killing of the women.

During a recent tour of the Northern Region, Mr. Rawlings again said that, "if while we are in office we do not take advantage of this situation and re-investigate properly and deal with those who masterminded it (murders), not just the subordinate personnel that were used, then we are leaving for them the power and the right to think they can do it again. And they know it. .. we all know it. It is incumbent on us for the sake of justice. In other words if NPP were to win an election again or if NDC were to continue none of us must have the power to think we can kill any human being and get away with it," Rawlings said.

Meanwhile, the former President is reported to be away in Suriname to join the people of that country in their Independence Day celebration, on an invitation by the Government. When he returns and is duly contacted by the Police, his aide is in no doubt that his boss would willingly comply and volunteer information to help unravel the mystery.