"I Hate Rawlings" - Witness Tells NRC

Proceedings at the NRC are beginning to heat up with some witnesses exhibiting extreme bitterness against those who allegedly used their political or administrative powers to cause them harm.

A former Police Officer in-charge of the Nima police Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), Mr. Francis Murphy Anane has said he gets annoyed whenever he sees the picture of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, because Rawlings terminated his job unlawfully.

Appearing before the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) yesterday, Mr. Anane who looked very furious told the commission, "honestly, anytime I see Rawlings' picture, I become annoyed".

He said in 1988, allegations were levelled against him that he had endorsed a dubious document for a Ghanaian in London to secure an insurance policy.

Dressed in yellow long-sleeved shirt with a black tie, he said he was interdicted for six months during the course of investigations after which he was recalled into the service and transferred to Bimbilla.

Again, on March 18, 1988, he was in Kumasi for his mother's funeral rites when he heard on radio news that he had been dismissed from the Police Service. He rushed back to Bimbilla to inform his wife who was then seven months pregnant.

Mr. Anane said he arrived at the Police Headquarters in Accra from Bimbilla and was informed that the directive to dismiss him came from the Castle so he should report there.

"I went to Castle but they didn't tell me anything. All my colleagues were asking me what the problem was but I could not say anything. I therefore petitioned the Police Council."

He said he learnt from friends at the Castle that the 64 Regiment had planned to attack the Police Headquarters because it was alleged that some policemen had shot at some members of the regiment. He said Chairman Rawlings and the Head of Security, Captain Kojo Tsikata called a meeting with the IGP and wrongfully dismissed other policemen including him.

He said the Police Service Act 350 section 20 (2) stipulates that no officer, who has not been convicted before, should be dismissed. He said on the strength of this Act, he approached the then Chairman of the Police Council, Justice D.F. Annan, who told him that he did not attend the meeting, which took the decision.

Mr. Anane who is presently an employee of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), said after their wrongful dismissal from the service, PNDC law 194A was enacted and it prevented them from seeking redress in any court of law or elsewhere.

Mr. Anane whose wife lost a child at birth due to shock, has therefore appealed to the Attorney General's Department to repeal what he termed "that punitive law" out of the statute books and asked to be reinstated in the service and given his entitlements.

Mr. Alexander Abbia-Kwakye, a former security officer at the Flagstaff House during the Nkrumah regime also told the commission, that he was unlawfully arrested and detained during the 1966 coup. He recalled that one Colonel. Zanlerigu of the Security Guard Regiment took him among others to Burma Camp and later to the Police Headquarters. He said they were made to sprawl on the floor facing the sun and were sprayed with hot water and tea.

Mr. Abbia-Kwakye, who spent about a year in detention, asked the state through the commission to compensate him because of the ordeal he had gone through.

Madam Rose Apedoe another witness said in 1982 some soldiers confiscated her 400 bags of cement worth ?35,000 at that time and made away with lots of valuables including plates, clothes and jewellery.

Dressed in mourning cloth, she said she was severely tortured with sticks at the Gonda Barracks, which has affected her eyes and head.

Hearing continues on Tuesday 9.30am.