Former DC appeals to NRC

Accra, Aug. 26, GNA - Madam Ramatu Baba, District Commissioner (DC), and Member of Parliament for Yendi in the First Republic on Tuesday prayed the National Reconciliation (NRC) to help retrieve her two houses and a Mercedes Benz car that were confiscated after the 1966 coup.

The former DC, then 18 years old, sobbed sorrowfully throughout her evidence, complaining that though the Azu-Crabbe Commission exonerated her in 1966 after an allegation of impropriety, the government in power went ahead to confiscate her assets.

She said the confiscation of her two houses, and a car, were based on a 5000 pounds loan she applied for at the Bank of Ghana to complete. Madam Baba said it was when she appeared before the Azu-Crabbe Commission that she was made aware that the loan, which was to be paid within 18 months, was rather given her by the National Development Company (NADECO) instead of the Bank of Ghana.

Madam Baba said she never used the 5000 pounds loan in question, and did not complete her buildings because two months after she asked for the loan the First Republican government was overthrown through a coup. She said eight months after a government's White Paper exonerated her, they went ahead to sell her uncompleted buildings and the car.

Madam Baba said she wrote a petition to the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government, which asked her to contact the Confiscated Assets Committee, chaired by Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu. She said with the help of the Attorney General, Mrs Iddrisu was able to de-confiscate her buildings in Tamale, but the de-confiscation was short lived because those occupying the building contacted the committee and they managed to get the building back.

The witness said the committee told her that she should forget about getting back her buildings, with a promise that government would give her some plots of land beside her buildings in Tamale to enable her to put up another building.

Madam Baba said she refused the offer and expressed the hope that the NRC would help her retrieve her properties to enable her to live a better life.

She said the situation has made her life difficult since she has no permanent residence, and depends on charity. Madam Baba said her two sons are not in any gainful employment because she had no money to give them a good education.