Ex-President Rawlings writes to NRC

Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings on Friday wrote to the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) in response to the Commission's invitation to respond to some allegations made against him by Ex-Corporal Matthew Adabuga.

Speaking in a telephone interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra, Dr Ken Attafuah, Executive Secretary of the NRC, said he would place the letter, dated June 6, before the Commission on Tuesday, June 9, 2003 for a decision to be taken on it.

He said following the evidence given by Ex-Corporal Adabuga on May 22, 2003, in which he made some allegations against the Ex-President, the Commission on May 27, 2003, sent an unedited transcript of the evidence to the Ex-President.

Dr Attafuah said the Commission, in accordance with its procedures, sent an invitation to the Ex-President to come to the Offices of the Commission to make a statement by June 6, 2003, based on which it might give him an opportunity to cross-examine Adabuga and for him to tell his side of the story at a public hearing.

He said instead of making a statement in compliance with the Commission's established procedures, the Ex-President had instead sent a letter. He added that the Commission would discuss the letter and issue a statement on it on Tuesday.

In another development, Dr Attafuah also denied media reports that the Commission was going to grant the Ex-President's request for a polygraph machine, (a lie detector) as a condition to his appearing before the Commission.

He said the Commission had not received any formal request to that effect from the ex-President, and that if he made the request the Commission would "give it the consideration that it warrants or deserves".

He further said the Commission could not act on the request made at a public lecture and carried by the media.

Dr Attafuah, who is a criminologist by training and familiar with the use of polygraphs, also pointed out that lie detectors were not foolproof and were rarely used in the criminal justice systems of most countries including Canada, United States and United Kingdom.

"Indeed, polygraphs are not a regular feature of the trial processes in these countries, and they have been rejected by the US Supreme Court as dependable aids to the assessment of the credibility of witnesses", adding; they are more common in movies dealing with child sexual assault cases than in real life trial situations.