Kwesi Pratt calls for probe into "crimes against humanity"

Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May '99

Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Managing Editor of "Weekly Insight" and a Human Rights Activist, on Thursday expressed regret about the inability of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and Parliament to investigate "crimes against humanity" in the country.

He said the 1992 constitution means little or nothing to the perpetrators of these crimes.

At a press conference in Accra he said between December 1981 and December 1984, "as many as 246 Ghanaians" were "butchered".

Mr Pratt Jnr said he wrote to CHRAJ in 1993 requesting it to "investigate extra-judicial killings under PNDC rule", but the Commission wrote back to say that it could not carry out the investigation.

He said CHRAJ said this is because its powers were limited by the 1992 constitution and that he, Mr Pratt Jnr, was not a member of any of the families of the alleged victims.

Mr Pratt said he also complained to the then IGP, Mr J.Y Kwofie ,who promised that the police would take up the matter, but nothing came out of it.

He said the time had come for a more militant action to press home the demand for a full-scale enquiry into the matter.

"If government fails to act, we will be compelled to mobilise the masses on an unprecedented scale in support of the call for a probe."

Mr Pratt said the government must understand that Ghanaians will continue to insist on knowing the full facts of the crimes to ensure that justice is done to all.