Help establish whereabouts of my brother

Mr Sakyi Akomea, a resident at Tantra Hill in Accra, on Wednesday prayed the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) to help establish the whereabouts of his elder brother, Corporal Bismark Owusu formerly of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).

Mr Akomea said the family last saw Cpl Owusu, formerly of 2BN at Takoradi in 1983 and that his aged mother was still worried about his whereabouts.

Mr Akomea, who occasionally shed tears, said there had been rumours that Cpl Owusu was executed along with L/Cpl Sarkodie Addo and Apatinga, and that the rumour later featured in a report in the Nsamankow newspaper, which discussed the manner in which Cpl Owusu and his colleagues were killed.

The Witness said t! he report heightened the suspicion of the family of his possible death . However, the family had not yet organised any funeral.

According to Witness, who hailed from Asamankese in the Eastern Region, the then District Secretary stopped L/Cpl Sarkodie's family from organising a funeral for him.

Another Witness, Madam Agnes Titi, formerly of the Ghana Cement Works Limited (Ghacem), said the Citizens Vetting Committee (CVC), set up under the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council, froze her accounts containing a total of 272,907 cedis deposited at three separate banks in 1982.

This was after the CVC had interrogated her on how she came by the money. The Committee also ordered her to pay 152,696 cedis as fine from her accounts into a special Account No. 48.

Madam Titi said no reason was assigned for the fine, but added that her account was de-frozen after she! had paid the fine.

She said a young soldier gave her a military drill on the grounds that she was fat when she went to the Old Parliament House where the CVC sat.

The Witness said she petitioned the Castle, the seat of government in 1992, to no avail.

Madam Titi said as result of the incident, a building project she and her siblings had intended for their widowed mother could not come off, and prayed the Commission to recommend appropriate compensation for her.

Ex-ASP Abraham Odiko Bortey, resident in Nungua in Accra, also petitioned the Commission about his dismissal from the police service by the PNDC in 1987 by a radio announcement.

He said no reason was assigned for his dismissal, neither had he received a formal letter from the Police Administration on the terminati! on of his appointment.

Witness, who said he was then in charge of Police records, said his dismissal came after he, upon instruction in 1984, submitted names of police personnel to be promoted, to the Staff Officer, Mr Joe Danquah.

He said names of unqualified officers were later found in the list, and despite stating his innocence, the Fiburo Committee set up to investigate the insertions, dismissed him together with four others.

Mr Borketey said he had worked for 22 years, but was paid no benefits after his dismissal, adding that life became so difficult for him that he had to join the wife to be selling banku to earn a living.

He said he petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice but had no favourable response and prayed the Commission to establish the authenticity of his evidence and make appropriate recommendations for him.