Belief and faith in God was my anchor - Witness

The Most Rev Charles Palmer-Buckle, Catholic Bishop of Koforidua, and a member of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) on Wednesday said belief in God was what had strengthened most Ghanaians to forgive perpetrators of human right violations during periods of Unconstitutional rule being examined by the Commission.

“As an Anglican, it is your faith in God which has sustained you in those hard times. It is the same faith in God that has made you decide to forgive; please, keep the faith and the Good Lord himself will show the way”, Rev Palmer-Buckle told Madam Mary Adukwei Allotey, 78, when she appeared and told her story to the Commission on its second day of public hearing in Accra.

According to Madam Allotey, some soldiers picked her on 10 August 1979, at about 0900, just a day after the burial of a late uncle, for whom they were observing some funeral rites at Palladium in Accra.

"The messenger said the people looking for me were not properly dressed, and I should meet them at the gate. At the gate I saw a certain Northerner; a tailor had been beaten with his face swollen. When tried to express sympathy, the men at the gate asked me to shut up. Are you Madam Allotey? They asked. And when I said yes, they remarked, “We are looking for you.”

Madam Allotey said the people, including one Baba ordered them to enter into a long vehicle, and she was also prevented to go and inform the other mourners at the funeral grounds on what was happening.

'The people provided a ladder, and I climbed into the vehicle. They took us to the then Makola No. 1, where I had a store and ordered me to open the store, but I told them I was not having a key. They forced open the store with sticks, guns and cudgels, and then asked, 'are all these for you?'" Madam Allotey said she responded yes, and explained to the people that she ordered goods from merchant companies of Leventis, GNTC and Okoamah Sons, and she was not hoarding goods.

"They beat me up, and I had one eye swollen, and started taking the goods. Commission: How many goods did they take away? Madam Allotey: They took 150 bags of sugar, 75 bags of rice, more than 60 bags of flour and 25 cartons of NIDO milk powder. I could not count the quantity of tins of sardine they took away. Commission: In all how much did the things they took away cost? Madam Allotey: It was about 55m cedis.

According to Madam Allotey the soldiers, who were in civilian clothes forced open a chop box, which was containing money and took all the money and made her sit in a waiting smaller military vehicle, and drove her home in Dansoman.

While in the vehicle, Madam Allotey said the soldiers asked her if she sold cloth and she said no. When they got to her house, she said they followed her to her bedroom and forced open her wardrobe and made away with 25 pieces of cloth after they had asked her why she had so much and she replied all her children were girls and she had bought the cloth for them.

She said she was threatened with death if she dared tell the truth about the things they had taken to a senior officer to whom they were sending. "They tied up the things and marched me to the vehicle. When we got to Kwame Nkrumah Circle, they put the things into another vehicle, and drove us to Border Guards Headquarters.

"They made us sit on the green grass in the scorching sun. If one dared questioned the soldiers, he was slapped." Madam Allotey said they were later put in another vehicle and taken to an office near Cantonments and they were detained three for three weeks without their relatives knowing where they were.

She said during their three-week detention, they were made to go to some bungalows in Cantonments; they were also made to pull their ears and hop up and down, in addition to with beatings.

Madam Allotey said she felt sick and was taken to the 37 Military Hospital, and when she was brought back to the detention, she developed asthma, hypertension and her left ear was operated on and she had not been able to hear properly since the surgery.

Commission: So how were you finally released?"

Madam Allotey: We were in detention one day when I was sitting quietly and I had cupped my chin, when one senior officer by the name Tackie, approached me and asked me how I was brought there and I told him and he arranged for my release.'

After the release I was informed that our things had been sent to the Central Police Station. I kept going there but never had my things back, until I gave up. This is my story. Madam Allotey said her children are now her benefactors. She pleaded with the Commission to provide her with capital and to resettle her.