FROM BEHIND ACDR LINES

8 am, Thursday, May 11, 1995: ACDR anti-demo "army" in highly prized, freshly minted, ACDR emblazoned T-shirts, had already formed up at the National Hockey Pitch. Armed with cutlasses, daggers, sticks, acid, ground pepper and stones, they had been recruited from Osu, Bukom, Nima, Alajo, Korle-Gonno and other parts of Accra.

To prepare for their destructive mission they were encouraged to take Dutch courage - others straight from bottles of gin, some from a pork barrelful of akpeteshie into which they dipped their cups for liberal supplies. The akpeteshie was delivered by Toyota Hiace bus AEA 284.

One woman, said to be a wife of E. T. Mensah, assisted by BNI personnel wielding Walkie-talkies distributed cash and T-shirts from car number TRC 2840. More money and more T-shirts were distributed from taxi number AEA 2946 and a private car, number AF 907.

Earlier a senior official from the AMA, known simply as Jerry, who was said to have deputised for E. T. Mensah, addressed the hired thugs. Speaking in Ga, he urged them to do everything in their power to make their presence feltin the city and to discharge their duty in a manner that would compel the Alliance for Change demonstrators to flee, as they did in the RADIO EYE march. "You have done it before and you must do it again," he told them.

However, a quarrel soon ensured among them over who had received how much. Some complained they had been given C2000 instead of the promised C5000; others had got nothing at all and blamed their ring leaders for pocketing the money.

This delayed their take-off until some officials came and satisfied them. The thugs then converged on Makola - "Rawlings Park" - UTC area to confront the "kume preko" marchers who were massing in the UTC area. Among the ranks of thugs there were stable boys on horseback and at the order, they rushed on the marchers. Missiles flew from both sides, resulting in may casualties.

The blood-soaked, ACDR T-shirted casualties were taken to the rear. The sight of people bleeding from head and body wounds melted whatever appetite for a fight many of them may have had. One young man removed his T-shirt and tucked it into his pants, saying "I am not a fool to die because of C3000 and a T-shirt".

Another heeded the advice given him in Hausa by two women passers-by near the Presbyterian Book Dept. He removed his T-shirt and wrapped it in black polythene bag and vanished from the "war zone." Indeed, many of them had carried black polythene bags on them, just for that purpose.

The "kume preko" marchers surged on them. One marcher was shot in the head at the "Rawlings Park," and another in the leg. The police arrived and took them away.

Although they provoked the fight with their shots and stabbings, the NDC thugs turned tail and fled as the "kume preko" marchers resisted them. Contrary to the lie that they had formed a human shield they, in fact, melted into the 31st December market, amid boos from the market women who had stood watching the encounter.

One ACDR T-shirted man, who ran to the Bank of Ghana area had the shock of his life when he was stopped by the policemen and soldiers on guard there and subjected to severe beatings. As they left the main body to search for water to drink, two of the thugs were overhead saying "we must begin to think of ourselves after this."

By 12 noon, the Alliance for Change marchers had overwhelmed the positions held by the NDC thugs in Accra Central. They were saved by the arrival of police armoured vehicles from beings pushed further back.