Soldiers slapped me - Witness

Madam Gladys Dugbatse, a trader who said 18 soldiers almost stripped her naked, gave her 24 lashes at her back and slapped her several times in 1979 during the June Four Uprising on Monday petitioned the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) to assist her to treat the pain in her ear as a result of the slaps.

According to her, the soldiers took away bags of sugar and cartons of milk from her shop after charging her for hoarding.

Madam Dugbatse said the soldiers also went to GNTC to collect 100 bags of cement she had paid for, but had not collected, claiming that it was against the law to have so much in one's possession. "I am happy I have forgiven all those who tortured me and I have given everything to God," she said, but pleaded with the Commission for resettlement.

Madam Dugbatse, who is a resident of Ho in the Volta Region said after the June Four Uprising she was in her store when a group of about 18 soldiers came and looted items including sugar and milk.

She said the soldiers took her in their vehicle, sent her home and collected the rest of the items she had stored in the house and drove her and the goods to the barracks. "I later tried to retrieve my goods but I was not successful." Madam Dugbatse said one day she was with her Pastor when she was informed that the soldiers had returned to the store and had arrested her daughter.

This time, they took everything in the store including her refrigerator and set the store ablaze. She said in an effort to free her daughter, her brother directed her to one Nyarko, who was the leader of the soldiers that came to loot the store.

However, at the barracks the soldiers arrested her, asked her to roll on the ground and they kicked her. "They later poured a mixture of water, stones and sand on me and sent me to the Ho Prisons for three weeks. But before going to the Prison, the soldiers took me to the Civic Centre and asked me to jump. They took my dress off and gave me 24 lashes at my back."

She said her brother later took her to the Dzodze Hospital, adding that she had to stay with her brother in Accra for her own safety. During that period, soldiers again went to her drinking bar and took away beer and soft drinks.

Madam Dugbatse said she did not petition the People's National Party (PNP) Administration because the victims of June Four were asked not to talk about it or even complain.

Professor Henrietta Mensah-Bonsu, Member of the Commission, expressed regrets that society accepted beating of adults in public, as something normal, saying there must be respect for human dignity.

She said it was sad when people did not see anything wrong about canning of adults in public. Even advertisements about indiscipline on television where an adult was canned in public seemed so normal. Mr. Yak Ziga, a farmer resident of Taviefe, near Ho, told the NRC that the Ho Police imprisoned him for the whole of 1972 without telling him of his offence.

Mr. Ziga, who was a transport owner during the Busia regime, was the Regional Secretary of the Progress Party. He said after the overthrow of Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia's government in January 1972, there was a radio announcement that all party activists must report to the nearest police station.

Mr. Ziga said he reported to the Ho Police only to be detained. He said his detention had had serious effects on the education of his five children, his livelihood and his two wives.

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