Kweku Baako At The NRC

THE Editor of the Crusading Guide, Mr Kwaku Sam Kakraba Baako, alias Kwaku Baako Jnr, yesterday recounted horrific circumstances under which some detainees were tortured during the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regime.

He said although he was not an eye witness to the torture scenes, he saw scars on the victims, which corroborated their stories of torture in the hands of the commandos, stressing that ?I believed it because I am a victim of torture myself?.

Mr Kwaku Baako Jnr, who was testifying in a case brought before the National Reconciliation Commission, said he saw the tips of the penis of Mawuli Goka and Kyeremeh Djan, who were executed in 1986 for alleged treason, slit open while the penis appeared to have been burnt.

He was testifying for Mr Christian Goka, a brother of the late Mawuli Goka, for the alleged torture and murder of the deceased.

He said he met Mawuli and eight others in prison while they were being tried for treason.

Mr Kwaku Baako Jnr said Kyeremeh Djan also had his back cut and that according to him, the flesh was given to him to eat but he refused.

He said he was told the flesh was later given to Mawuli to eat but he also declined.
He said another victim was Warrant Officer Aforo whose back was scarified.

He told the commission that his security sources later confirmed that Mawuli and the rest were taken to the Commandos House at Labone by former Regimental Sergeant Major, Paul (Jack) Bebli ?to be worked on by the boys?.

Mr Kwaku Baako Jnr said he later confronted James Quarshie and Tony Gbeho, who were mentioned during the torture by the victims alongside Paul Bebli, and they confirmed that Mawuli and the rest were indeed ?worked on by the boys although they did not take part in the torture?.

He said he did not contact Mr Bebli at the time because ?he was a terror and everyone feared him?.
He told the commission that all that he had said was based on what the victims told him and their scars which he personally saw.

During cross-examination by Mr Amui, counsel for Mr Bebli, Mr Kwaku Baako Jnr said James Quarshie and Tony Gbeho were friends and could get to them anytime before their death.
Amui: Did you know who was in charge of the Commandos House you are referring to?

Baako: Yes. James told me he was in charge of the Commandos House. He also confirmed to me that Mawuli and company were brought there but denied taking part in their torture.

Amui: I want to put it to you that those who beat and tortured Mawuli and others were not commandos!

Baako: There was a collaboration between the Police Commandos and the 64 Battalion.

Amui: I want to put it to you that Jack Bebli was not the boys?

Baako: It came up at the trial. There are official records to this. The fact is, Jack went for them on various occasions sometimes under protest by policemen on duty.

Amui: You could not have seen Jack?

Baako: It was obvious I did not see him. I said earlier that I was not a witness to the torture scenes.
When counsel for Bebli said he did not have further questions, there were boos and jeers from the large audience who had trooped there to catch a glimpse of Mr Kwaku Baako Jnr.

The chairman of the commission, Mr K. E. Amua-Sekyi, intervened to ask the audience to remain silent and pointed out that counsel had every right to put any question to a witness.

He said the work of the commission is to establish the truth and that it is only through such questioning that it can arrive at the truth.

Another member, Most Rev Charles Palmer-Buckle, entreated the audience to let the rule of law prevail in the chamber since the essence of the commission?s work was to help entrench the rule of law.

Most Rev Palmer-Buckle, who shed tears during the narration of how Mawuli Goka and others were tortured, advised the audience to learn to respect the rights of others, stressing that ?we are not here to intimidate anybody?.

Mr Kwaku Baako further told the commission that one of the soldiers, whose name he mentioned only as Sarkodie, liberated the former President, Flt Lt J. J. Rawlings but he was later allegedly shot dead in the presence of Flt Lt Rawlings when he was the chairman of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).

Earlier in his complaint, Mr Christian Kofi Goka, a brother of the late Mawuli Goka, said he was in exile when he heard that Mawuli and some people had been arrested in October 1985 and later executed on treason charges in June 1986.

He told the commission that prior to the October, 1985 arrest, Mawuli had been picked up while on holiday after the December 31, 1981 coup d?etat and tortured for holding dissenting views during the regime of the AFRC.

He said Mawuli was then a student in the United Kingdom and had to undergo medical treatment before completing his course. He returned to Ghana in 1985.

When asked how he got to know Mawuli was tortured, Mr Goka said there was some evidence during their trial while he heard Mr Kwaku Baako Jnr on air give some vivid details about Mawuli.

Counsel for the commission: Did you get any record of the trial?

Goka: The Daily Dispatch did carry some excerpts of the trial from a book, ?Treason Trial of 1986? written by the former chairman of the tribunal, Mr George Agyekum.

Mr Goka, who tendered certain portions of the book in evidence to the commission, said the chairman of the tribunal confessed in the introduction to the book that the former Director of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), Mr Peter Nanfuri, had told him that he and the others had no control over the commandos.

He said Mr Jack Bebli was named as the leader of the torture squad and recounted incidents when Mr Bebli had snubbed police officers on duty when the squad went for Mawuli and company to torture them.

Counsel: Do you know when they were executed and how many they were?

Goka: It was on June 21, 1986. They were nine in number.
Counsel: How old was your brother when he was executed?
Goka: He was 31 years old.

Counsel for Bebli, Mr Amui: Do you know Mr Bebli?
Goka: I believe I do. He was a police dispatch rider, heavily built and roamed the streets of Accra terrorising people.

Amui: Was he the only person who tortured your brother?
Goka: I believe there were other persons.

Amui: And the only name given to you was Bebli?
Goka: I do not really care. I believe he was an instrument in his torture. We have it on authority from the former Director of the BNI saying they were tortured.

Amui: Have you had occasion to talk to the director of BNI?
Goka: No. I am not interested. What matters to me is that my brother was in the custody of the state. All those who tortured him were armed by the state.

Amui: What you are echoing is based on what you were told and not seen?

Goka: Yes. What I have heard and what I have read from the chairman of the tribunal.

In response to a question from some members of the commission, Mr Goka said the family has still not performed any funeral rites for the late Mawuli.

He said apart from being a school mate to former President Rawlings, there was no relationship linking the Goka family to any big man or people in authority at the time.

Most Rev Palmer-Buckle: Did you know why Mawuli came back to the lion?s den after completing his course in spite of his earlier ordeal?

Goka: Yes. He did not accept the situation in the country at the time and had always opposed it. He was ready to contribute his bit to change the government.

Buckle: Was Mawuli at any point in time a member of the revolution and later became disenchanted and possibly eaten up by the revolution?

Goka: No sir. He was a sober person. He could never have been a part or played any role in the so-called revolution.
When Paul Bebli took the witness seat, he said he did not remember anything of the sort.

He said his sickness might have been a contributing factor as he has lost his memory.

Mr Bebli, however, pleaded for forgiveness if he had offended or hurt anyone in the course of his duty.
The various commissioners who spoke, took turns to advise him to endeavour to remember some of the things he did and then ask for forgiveness.

According to them, it is only when one confesses to his sins that he can be forgiven.

Another witness, ex-Superintendent of Police, Mr Gabriel Lovebridge Quampah, said he was wrongfully dismissed from the service on September 2, 1983.

He said apart from his name appearing in the Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times of September 3, 1983, assigning unsatisfactory performance for his dismissal, there was no official communication to him from the Ghana Police Service.

He said he was given a gratuity of ?27,000 and that since terror prevailed at the time, he could not contest the decision.

Mr Quampah said he later petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice in 2000 but the petition was not entertained because of time lapse.

He, therefore, pleaded with the commission to recommend compensation for him and be retired on the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police as his colleagues were.