Security men beat me for bailing unlicensed driver - Witness

Accra, Aug. 21, GNA - Mr Samuel K.A. Bofuor, a mechanic on Thursday told the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) that he was severely beaten by security men for bailing a friend, who had been put in cells at the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) in 1986.

He said the case was later sent to court adding that he abandoned it after numerous adjournments and asked the NRC for compensation. The friend he bailed, Kwame Baako, a welder at the fitting shop where Mr Bofuor was working, had taken an Opel Saloon Car that was being repaired to test during which he was involved in an accident. Mr Bofuor said Baako had no licence adding that he was arrested by the Police and placed in cells.

He said the owner of the car, known as Nash, came to the shop one day with two officers adding that after one of them showed him an Identity Card, and started hitting him with his pistol. The Witness said he bled from his nose and mouth staining the officer's dress in the process adding that the officer ordered him to lick the blood from his shirt and he did.

Mr Bofuor said he was taken to the Information Room at Police Headquarters, where he was made to sign an agreement to repair the car adding that he was also beaten there and asked to weed the frontage. He said his wristwatch was seized and was never returned to him.

Mr Joy Kwame Cudjoe, a former member of the Ghana Border Guard, who said he was dismissed from the Army without being paid his entitlements, could not produce any document to prove his identity. He was asked by the NRC to "establish who he was" to enable it to help him.

The Chairman of the NRC, Justice Amoa Sekyi asked him to bring at least three witnesses including Commander Assasie Gyimah, who he mentioned as credible Witness to testify on his behalf.

Mr Cudjoe said he enlisted into Ghana Armed Forces in 1983 and posted to the Forces Reserve Unit where he worked for six years. He said in September 25, 1989, he was asked to see Major Patington, who told him of his alleged involvement in a coup plot adding that he was later sent to the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI). Mr Cudjoe said from the BNI he was sent to the Nsawam Prisons where he spent three years and was released on April 3, 1992.

Now employed with the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr Cudjoe said when he went to the Castle after his release to ask if there was any benefits for him, Commander Assasie Gyimah, showed a list of people in similar situations, but his name was not included. He said Commander Assasie Gyimah also warned him not to come there again. 21 Aug. 03