13 people were behind AFRC executions

...Cameroun Doudu, Adumoah Bossman & Tsikatas Named
Cameroun Doudu Denies Allegations
Accra, April 14, GNA - A former officer of the Ghana Air Force on Monday mentioned the names of 13 people who, he said, were behind the arrest and executions of the seven top senior military officers after the June 4, 1979 Uprising.

Ex-Squadron Leader George Tagoe, appearing before the National Reconciliation Commission, said they included Captain Korda, Captain Okaikoi, Captain Odoi, Sergeants Asmah and Sergeant Quartey.

The others were Major Mensah Poku, Major M. K. Gbedemah, the late Commander Henry Akpaloo, Captain Kojo Tsikata, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, Mr Kwamena Asirifi, Mr Cameroun Doudu, a Journalist and Mr Adumoah Bossman, former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA).

Squadron Leader Tagoe, former Commanding Officer of the Ghana Armed Forces (Administration and Welfare), said he wanted to "finish" one Sammy Michel, who had been part of a team that interrogated him.

He said Michel, who he described as a small boy whose hands he held as a boy to school when he (Tagoe) was serving as a clerk to Michel's father, also slapped him during his interrogation.

He said when he, therefore, heard that Michel had been brought to the infirmary of the Nsawam Prisons, he wanted to "finish him", but changed his mind when Commander Osei showed him the list of the 13 people as those behind the arrest, interrogation and executions at the time. Squadron Leader Tagoe said he had long been associated with Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings and at one time arranged private tuition for him to pass his promotion examination in the Air Force.

Just when the result was released Flt Lt Rawlings was embroiled in an abortive coup on May 15, 1979. Squadron Leader Tagoe said it was by divine intervention that soldiers missed him when they came to look for him at his residence at the Air Force Officers' Mess on the night of June 3, 1979, as he had gone to La Bone and overslept after taking some beer.

The soldiers killed Colonel Ninful and his wife that night. He said following the order from Flt. Lt. Rawlings to "all Senior Officers, who had nothing to hide to report", he decided to report passing first through his residence at the Air Force Officers' Mess. He said immediately after he had arranged for some food for his daughter and other children he saw four drunken soldiers in a convoy, three of whom were detailed to escort him to Burma Camp.

On the way the soldiers ordered him to alight and asked him to double up. However, as he doubled up, stray bullets hit two of the soldiers and they died. The other one asked him to roll on the ground from the Burma Camp Post Office to the Signal Regiment where he was detained in the guardroom for three days.

He said he was sent to Nsawam Prison, and on June 16, 1979, General Emmanuel Utuka, who was then in the Prison, was collected and executed.
Squadron Leader Tagoe said he was sent to the Air Force, where he saw bodies of General Robert Kotei and other executed officers. He said he faced the five junior officers at the 5BN during which Michel slapped him.
After the five had interrogated him, he was sent to Peduase Lodge deep in the night and sent into on a very dark room to be interrogated by a kangaroo court. As he walked through the dark, he was slapped from behind, he said. Squadron Leader Tagoe said one Lieutenant Kusi, who had earlier appeared before the Commission, was in charge of the troops at the Lodge.
The Chairman of that kangaroo court was Squadron Leader Dogbe and Flying Officer Odoi was a member. They sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment. He was later taken back to the Air Force and then to the Ussher Fort prison and given an additional sentence of 80 years.
He said pins were nailed into the fingers of Nana Bantamahene, whom he met at Ussher Fort.
Later Okaikoi was brought to the prison but Okaikoi insisted that he should be taken away because Tagoe had threatened to "finish him".
Squadron Leader Tagoe said he spent four- and-a-half years at Nsawam Prisons without any charge being preferred against him. He added that any time Flt. Lt. Rawlings visited the inmates of the Prison he (Tagoe) was whisked away and not allowed to see him.
He said he refused to escape when Corporal Halidu Giwa threw open the prison gates in an abortive coup in 1983. Squadron Leader Tagoe said all his property was confiscated and he was dismissed from the Military.
He personally petitioned Rawlings after which he was given his pension in 2000 and an End of Service Benefit of 43,000 cedis. Squadron Leader Tagoe said his children's education suffered and he prayed the Commission for the return of his seized assets including his gari processing plant and poultry farm.

...Cameroun Doudu, Adumoah Bossman & Tsikatas Named
Cameroun Doudu Denies Allegations
Accra, April 14, GNA - A former officer of the Ghana Air Force on Monday mentioned the names of 13 people who, he said, were behind the arrest and executions of the seven top senior military officers after the June 4, 1979 Uprising.

Ex-Squadron Leader George Tagoe, appearing before the National Reconciliation Commission, said they included Captain Korda, Captain Okaikoi, Captain Odoi, Sergeants Asmah and Sergeant Quartey.

The others were Major Mensah Poku, Major M. K. Gbedemah, the late Commander Henry Akpaloo, Captain Kojo Tsikata, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, Mr Kwamena Asirifi, Mr Cameroun Doudu, a Journalist and Mr Adumoah Bossman, former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA).

Squadron Leader Tagoe, former Commanding Officer of the Ghana Armed Forces (Administration and Welfare), said he wanted to "finish" one Sammy Michel, who had been part of a team that interrogated him.

He said Michel, who he described as a small boy whose hands he held as a boy to school when he (Tagoe) was serving as a clerk to Michel's father, also slapped him during his interrogation.

He said when he, therefore, heard that Michel had been brought to the infirmary of the Nsawam Prisons, he wanted to "finish him", but changed his mind when Commander Osei showed him the list of the 13 people as those behind the arrest, interrogation and executions at the time. Squadron Leader Tagoe said he had long been associated with Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings and at one time arranged private tuition for him to pass his promotion examination in the Air Force.

Just when the result was released Flt Lt Rawlings was embroiled in an abortive coup on May 15, 1979. Squadron Leader Tagoe said it was by divine intervention that soldiers missed him when they came to look for him at his residence at the Air Force Officers' Mess on the night of June 3, 1979, as he had gone to La Bone and overslept after taking some beer.

The soldiers killed Colonel Ninful and his wife that night. He said following the order from Flt. Lt. Rawlings to "all Senior Officers, who had nothing to hide to report", he decided to report passing first through his residence at the Air Force Officers' Mess. He said immediately after he had arranged for some food for his daughter and other children he saw four drunken soldiers in a convoy, three of whom were detailed to escort him to Burma Camp.

On the way the soldiers ordered him to alight and asked him to double up. However, as he doubled up, stray bullets hit two of the soldiers and they died. The other one asked him to roll on the ground from the Burma Camp Post Office to the Signal Regiment where he was detained in the guardroom for three days.

He said he was sent to Nsawam Prison, and on June 16, 1979, General Emmanuel Utuka, who was then in the Prison, was collected and executed.
Squadron Leader Tagoe said he was sent to the Air Force, where he saw bodies of General Robert Kotei and other executed officers. He said he faced the five junior officers at the 5BN during which Michel slapped him.
After the five had interrogated him, he was sent to Peduase Lodge deep in the night and sent into on a very dark room to be interrogated by a kangaroo court. As he walked through the dark, he was slapped from behind, he said. Squadron Leader Tagoe said one Lieutenant Kusi, who had earlier appeared before the Commission, was in charge of the troops at the Lodge.
The Chairman of that kangaroo court was Squadron Leader Dogbe and Flying Officer Odoi was a member. They sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment. He was later taken back to the Air Force and then to the Ussher Fort prison and given an additional sentence of 80 years.
He said pins were nailed into the fingers of Nana Bantamahene, whom he met at Ussher Fort.
Later Okaikoi was brought to the prison but Okaikoi insisted that he should be taken away because Tagoe had threatened to "finish him".
Squadron Leader Tagoe said he spent four- and-a-half years at Nsawam Prisons without any charge being preferred against him. He added that any time Flt. Lt. Rawlings visited the inmates of the Prison he (Tagoe) was whisked away and not allowed to see him.
He said he refused to escape when Corporal Halidu Giwa threw open the prison gates in an abortive coup in 1983. Squadron Leader Tagoe said all his property was confiscated and he was dismissed from the Military.
He personally petitioned Rawlings after which he was given his pension in 2000 and an End of Service Benefit of 43,000 cedis. Squadron Leader Tagoe said his children's education suffered and he prayed the Commission for the return of his seized assets including his gari processing plant and poultry farm.