Bodies of murdered Generals to be exhumed next week

The exhumation of the bodies of three former Heads of State and other military officers executed in the wake of the Rawlings' led June 4 insurrection in 1979, will begin next week.

The Executive Committee on the exhumation and burial of Generals has indicated its readiness to start the exhumation. It as also decided to conduct forensic studies (DNA tests) to determine the absolute identities of the remains of the Generals.

They are General A.A. Afrifa. I.K. Acheampong and F.W.K. Akuffo, all Heads of State under the NLC, SMCI and SMCII regimes respectively. The rest are Major General R.E.A. Kotei, Rear Admiral Joy Amedume, Air Vice-Marshall Yaw Boakye, Major-General Emmanuel Utuka and Col. Roger Felli.

The Executive Committee appointed by the President announced this following meetings it held with widows and families of the military officers on Monday, July 16. The Committee also held discussions with each of the affected families before arriving at the decision.

The Committee informed the widows and families that although records are available to identify the burial sites of the deceased, it deemed it extremely important to establish their true identities. "To ensure this, therefore, the Executive Committee has decided to conduct forensic studies."

Government Spokesperson, Elizabeth Ohene informed the press that the widows and families expressed their gratitude to the President for acceding to their request to exhume and accord the affected officers decent funerals.

The Committee is under the chairmanship of Air Vice Marshall M.A.Otu. Members include a former UNIFIL Commander, General E.A. Erskine.