I scolded Adjei Boadi for executing prisoners

The Reverend Apostle Brigadier (rtd) Albert Tehn-Addy, former Border Guard Commander, on Wednesday told the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) that he admonished a member of the defunct Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) for the summary execution of some prisoners.

He said admonished Ex-Warrant Officer Class One Joseph Kwabena Adjei Boadi, a member of the PNDC for shooting six prisoners kept in the guardroom of the Border Guard Headquarters in 1983.

The former Border Guard Commander said he first saw the prisoners, who he learnt were former military intelligence officers, a day before their summary execution. "They were not armed, they did not pose any threat to anybody," he said.

Tehn-Addy was giving evidence in connection with the shooting of five former military intelligence officers. They included Samuel Gyimah, whose son, Fred Gyimah, on Tuesday in a testimony mentioned Adjei Boadi as the one who ordered the soldiers out of the guardroom when they were having a meal and "sprayed" his father and the four others to death on 20 June 1983.

Adjei Boadi who was at the NRC sat taciturn, very close to his counsel, Agyare Koi Larbi, with whom he occasionally conferred, during Tehn-Addy's narration Tehn-Addy said he had difficulty remembering the date of the execution but recalled that after a coup attempt and jail break by Lance Corporal Giwa he had information that six prisoners had been brought in by Adjei Boadi.

Tehn-Addy said he went on an inspection of the guardroom, and "found six young men barefooted in their trousers and asked them why they were there, but they said they didn't know." He said he did not press further.

He said he then went to have lunch, but just as he was finishing the lunch, he had a call reporting a shooting incident at the Headquarters. He asked that the victims should be sent to the hospital to receive medical attention.

The former Border Guard Commander said the caller insisted that he wanted him to see what had happened before conveying the victims to the hospital. Tehn-Addy said considering the violent events of the time, he loaded his gun with 28 rounds of bullets and a spare 28 attached to a magazine to face any eventuality on the way.

"On arrival, I saw the prisoners lying on the ground in front of my car. They were six of them. They were the same people I saw before I went to lunch. ".... I asked the Guard Commander who did the shooting, and he told me it was W. O. Adjei Boadi."

Tehn-Addy said he remarked that "if that was what the PNDC wanted, let it be so". He asked the Guard Commander to ring the 37 Military Hospital for an ambulance to "collect these people away" for possible revival.

He said he told the Guard Commander to ask Adjei Boadi to see him and he came one week later. Tehn-Addy said when Adjei Boadi came, he scolded him for executing the prisoners.

He said he told Adjei Boadi that with his high position as a member of the PNDC, he should not have been involved in the shooting of the prisoners. Tehn-Addy said he also reminded him of the consequences of the role of another member of the PNDC, Amartey Kwei, in a similar shooting incident.

When the Commission asked Tehn-Addy why he did not ask Adjei Boadi his reason for executing the prisoners, he said it was not his business to ask that question.

"In a revolution, if you dare ask such questions, that is the easiest way to get out of this world." Commission: "Did you inform the families of the incident?" Tehn-Addy: "It was not our business. When they get to the Military Hospital, the hospital will through the record office inform the next-of-kin and arrange for their burial.

Commission: "How do you now feel towards Adjei Boadi?" Tehn-Addy: "When a man repents, God forgives or mitigates his punishments. If he repents he will be forgiven."

During cross-examination Koi Larbi asked Tehn-Addy questions about whether he was aware of a search and 'destroy operation' and instruction to shoot anyone wearing a tracksuit after a failed coup attempt but he replied, "I'm not aware".

Tehn-Addy said he remembered there was an uprising around the time of the shooting incident, but could not remember the date. Tehn-Addy said he did not know Gyima's children whom he met for the first time at the premises of the Commission a day earlier.

He said initially he did not want to testify and added he shed tears when saw the children. Counsel requested that the Commission deferred the reaction by Adjei Boadi to Tehn-Addy's evidence to another time. However, the Commission Chairman Justice Kweku Amua-Sekyi said he could be heard immediately. Adjei Boadi's reaction was deferred to another day.

Rico Kwabena Ampadu a former furniture manufacturer, and owner of Star Furniture and Upholstery in Accra, but now resident at Nkawkaw said he had supplied a quantity of furniture to the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) before the 24 February 1966 coup erupted.

He said the total cost of the items were 681,000 by then but a number of attempts he made to get his money was futile, and his lawyer advised him to stop pursuing the case. He said he had to sell his house at Abossey Okai and other business at Oda and Nkawkaw to pay some of his debts.

Ampadu also said the Military, Police and personnel from the Fire Service looted his furniture storeroom at Okaishi following the 4 June 1979 Uprising. He said he lost 68 million cedis in that operation. The Commission asked Ampadu to look for the documents on his transaction with the GAF, but he said it was a long time and find it difficult to get the documents. Hearing continues.