Chief weeps before NRC

Accra, Jan. 30, GNA - Togbe Satsimadza Afari II, Divisional Chief in the Klikor Traditional area, on Thursday wept before the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) when he was asked to tell the Commission what effects his unlawful detention, torture and exile during the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) era had had on him.

Togbe Afari told the Commission that his unlawful detention, torture and the sale of his property while he was in exile in Togo, has resulted in his ill health and denial of about 20 of his 36 children adequate education and training.

Literally shivering and wiping tears with his handkerchief, he said, "the treat given to me by ex-president Jerry John Rawlings, former IGP, Mr. C. K. Dewornu, and his cousin Jerry Doe has affected me a lot."

Led by counsel for the NRC Togbe Afari, known in private life as Christian Afaglo, told the Commission that in 1970 he resigned from the military and established the Ham Group of Companies, made of seven separate outfits, including a school, a hotel, a fishing company between Klikor, Tema and Accra.

He said in 1990 one Eugenia Kumassah came to him to assist her to obtain cement from the Ministry of Works and Housing to construct a nursery for the 31st December Women's Movement (DWM) at Klikor, and he obliged. Togbe Afari said days after that, he heard his name on the radio that he was wanted at the Gondar Barracks and he went. He said when he arrived, he was directed to Mr Dewornu to be told his offence.

"I called Mr Dewornu on phone but he directed me to Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, former First Lady who asked four armed soldiers to send me to the Castle."

He said he was at the Castle fr om morning till 1830 hours but was told nothing, so he left and went home to Klikor. Around 0200 hours the following dawn soldiers came to his house fired warning shots and took him, his brother and his ex-wife in his own car and drove them towards Accra.


Togbe Afari said on their way they released his brother and ex-wife and took him alone to the Castle in Accra, where they tortured him, shaved half of his hair, beat him with belts and made him hop like a frog for at least four hours.

"At the Castle I met ex-president Rawlings and he personally asked soldiers to shave me completely and torture me more, which they did in the Castle Gardens," he said.

"After that I was questioned about how I acquired my wealth and whether I paid taxes regularly and I answered them with documentary proof." He said he was forced to admit that he ac! quired an X-ray machine and some drugs illegally and sold them to one Dr Nkansah and also acquired some cement illegally in the name of the DWM, but he refused.

Togbe Afari said when he refused to admit to the allegations against him, he was tortured again till he urinated on himself and his anus started bleeding.

He was then sent to the Ridge Hospital and the doctor in charge referred him to the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital where he was admitted at the Surgical Ward under the care of one Professor Quartey Papafio.

He said at the hospital soldiers kept visiting and threatening him. On June 3, 1990 one soldier asked him to pray because if he did not, his body was going to be used to celebrate the June 4 Revolution that year.

"On hearing this, I called my family from the hospital phone to come and pick me up that night," he said.

"That night my son came and parked my car behind the surgical Ward and I sneaked out of my ward with the excuse that I was exercising my body and I escaped to Togo," he said.

He said in 1992 he heard in Togo that he had been declared a wanted man in Ghana and he collapsed out of shock and was admitted in Saint Joseph's Hospital in Togo for six months.

Togbe Afari said during his exile his vehicle was towed and thrown into the sea and his hotel at Tema was sold at a devalued rate of 105 million cedis instead of 300 million cedis, to pay part of a loan of 100 million cedis he took from Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), which had accumulated an interest of 86 million.

He said he made attempts to come back to Ghana in 1992 when constitutional rule started but was warned that those who oversaw his torture were still in power so he waited until 2000.

"Since I returned I have had a lot of problems with accommodation. The people of Klikor, where Mr Dewornu and his cousin Jerry Doe hail from, have sent letters to the government to arrest me and are calling me a criminal," he said. He said at the moment the post office, schools and a petrol filling station he built in his hometown are still being used, but no money is paid to him. Most of his children have now become street kids in Dansoman Accra, he added. Members of the Commission expressed their sympathy with him and assured him that the necessary recommendation will be made for redress.