Son tells Commission how soldiers robbed his mother

Tamale (Northern Region) - Rufai Abdulai, a farmer, on Tuesday told the National Reconciliation Commission at its sitting in Tamale that soldiers robbed her mother, Madam Zaara Tia, of her pickup vehicle and large sums of foreign currencies that she acquired through hard work.

Testifying before the Commission, Abdulai said his late mother was an agent of Goil Company, which used to supply her with fuel at Gbemsi in the West Mamprusi District and that during the 1979 Uprising, soldiers came to her house and took away the pickup, which was given to her by a white lady friend.

Abdulai, who petitioned the Commission on behalf of his mother, said the late Madam Tia used to buy straw hats for her friend for export while long vehicle drivers mostly Burkinabes en route to Burkina Faso were fuelling at her filling station and paying in foreign currencies.

The Petitioner said her mother was asked to appear before the then Upper Region Investigation Committee at Bolgatanga where she was asked how she came by her wealth.

He said the question angered her mother, who in turn asked them why they had not gone round Bolgatanga to question the poor people how they became poor. Abdulai said her mother was sentenced by the Investigation Committee to a jail term and was sent to the Navrongo Prisons where she served for some years.

The Witness said her mother was also fined by the Committee and asked to pay that money into PNDC Account Number 48 at the Agricultural Development Bank in Bolgatanga.

He said while the soldiers were using the pickup it got involved in an accident so they parked the vehicle at the Kamina Barracks in Tamale. It was later released to her in a very deplorable condition.

He said during the same period, some Policemen came to Gbemsi and invaded his mother's house and carried away two pillowcases full of foreign currencies including dollars given to her by her friend and CFA she earned from the fuel she sold to the Burkinabe drivers.

Abdulai said the Police ordered his mother to walk about three miles from Gbemsi to Walewale but while she was on the way she met some soldiers, who took her in their vehicle to the Walewale Police Station.

At the Police Station, he said the soldiers put sand into her eyes before she was ordered into Police cells but was later released and sent to Kamina Barracks with the money.

The Witness said Corporal Peter Tashiru also stormed the village and started firing and collected all the fuel drums at the filling station and took them away to Bolgatanga while other soldiers also came to the station and fuelled their vehicle free of charge.

He said his mother later sold some of her cattle to defray the fine imposed on her by the Regional Investigation Committee. Adam Salifu, now unemployed, said he owned a shop at the Tamale Old Market, where he sold shoes, travelling and school bags, as well as other assorted goods but lost all in the 1982 fire outbreak at the market.

He said he was at home when his father told him that the market was on fire and when he rushed to the scene the fire had not yet reached his shop so he returned to the house and fetched a bucket of water and returned to the market to try to put out the fire that had then engulfed his shop but a soldier prevented him from doing so.

The Petitioner said the soldier told him that they burned the market and that he should run away or else they would kill him. He said the loss of his shop and goods had brought hardships to his family adding that he had not been able to educate his children and had been making a living working in people's farms.

Abdul-Rahman Abdulai, now unemployed, said he was a tailor at the Tamale market where he sold bicycle parts, which were all destroyed in the fire. Alhassan Wulana, who used to sell plastic containers, said he lost everything in the 1982 fire