Addae Amoako Lied To NRC

A legal practioner and Human Rights activist, Mr Alexander Okunnor, has castigated Mr Samuel Addae Amoako for what he described as his peddling of untruths and exaggeration of facts before the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) on Tuesday April 14, 2003.

Mr Akunnor, who is the Chief Executive of the Common-wealth Press Agency, called at the offices of "The Evening News" to counter what Mr Addae Amoako had said at the Commission about the role of Mr Kwesi Pratt, Managing Editor of "The Insight" newspaper which received wide coverage in the media. Mr Addae Amoako, a former National Organiser of the defunct People's National Party (PNP) told the Commission among other things that Mr Pratt led soldiers to finish him off at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital where he had been admitted for treatment of gun shot wounds. He also alleged that Pratt was an operative of the then Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government.

Mr Akunnor stated categorically that Mr Addae Amoako's account of what happened between the time he was allegedly shot by soldiers and his subsequent seeking of medical attention at Korle-Bu Hospital before he left the country could not be true. "Addae Amoako was my next door neighbour and a friend.

In fact we were both official members of the Black Caucus of the British Labour Party in London and he supported me when I contested for the position of Councillor at the local level. "As a neighbour, we frequently visited each other and because we were both CPP sympathizers, we had a lot to talk about," he retorted. He said when the authorities threw two of Addae Amoako's sons out of their house; they sought refuge in his house and lived with him (Okunnor). "That's how close we were," he emphasized.

Mr Okunnor said what was disturbing to him was that Addae Amoako claimed that Kwesi Pratt and others did not help him. "The word help may be too strong for Addae Amoako to appreciate but he told me back then, that Kwesi Pratt and others assisted him throughout the period he was shot until he arrived in Togo." He said the former PNP Organiser confirmed to him that by virtue of his position, he kept in constant touch with Pratt and others who maintained a link of communication by feeding him with events back home in Ghana.

At all times during the conversations, the name of Kwesi Pratt came up and the impression he gave of him was one of a 'darling boy'. At no time did he mention Ms Tamakloe as the one who rescued and sent him to Korle-Bu Hospital for treatment as he is now claiming. As far as Pratt's involvement is concerned, Addae Amoako is telling porky lies'.

Mr Akunnor further stated Addae Amoako had reached a point in his career where he felt that he was the only person who stood on a vehicle to challenge the Rawlings regime like Boris Yeltsin in Russia and therefore deserved praises.