First child-victim of 1963 bomb blast officially named

Accra, April 3, GNA - Forty years after the January 8, 1963 bomb blast at the Accra Sports Stadium during a political rally, at least one of the children who died has now been named publicly. He is Master Michael Ayikwei Hammond.

Madam Rose Baah Okraku, mother of the then nine-year-old Master Hammond, mentioned his name at the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) on Thursday.

Prof. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, a Commissioner, said all the reports on the Stadium bomb blast merely said several children were lost. She added that it was painful that none of the reports on the bomb blast mentioned the names of any of the unfortunate children for necessary recognition as lost human lives.

Prof. Mensa-Bonsu expressed her gratitude to Madam Okraku for coming forward to tell of the death of her son to the world. She added that the mention of the name would accord dignity to the unfortunate children. Members of the Commission expressed their condolence and sympathy to Madam Okraku, whose husband is dead.

Madam Okraku told the National Reconciliation Commission that the pain of the death of her son was still fresh in her mind.

She said three of her children, Eric Nii Armah Hammond, then 15, Richard Aryee Hammond and Michael, as well as other children of in the house, went to the stadium on that fateful day when Michael met his untimely death. Madam Okraku said when the other children returned to the house, she asked about their brother, but they said they could not see him.

A cousin who was with them at the stadium later said he saw blood oozing from the side of his ribs. He rushed to his side but could not help the situation.

He said he when he was running to inform some relatives at Kinkawe aboutMichael's plight, he was stopped and arrested along with others and taken to a camp to be searched for bombs.

Madam Okraku said the family made frantic efforts to search for Michael whose body was finally discovered at the 37 Military Hospital with a fat corpse lying on top of him.

Madam Okraku said it was rumoured that one Teiko Tagoe hurled the bomb into the stadium from the Independence Arch area.

When the Commission asked if she received any compensation from the government, Madam Okraku said she was so traumatised that she could not petition for compensation.

She said she was a supervisor of women who swept the streets in Accra. She was later transferred to the Ministry of Health, but her salary was withheld when she became sick.