I was compensated for son's death - Witness

THE mother of one of the Andani warriors who was killed in the heat of the Yendi disturbances told the Wuaku Commission yesterday that lawyer Ibrahim Mahama sent her a piece of cloth and a bag of maize as compensation for losing her son, Ibrahim Sulemana alias Diba.

Fati Alhassan, a 60-year-old farmer at Kusheli near Yendi said lawyer Mahama sent the items through Alhaji Abdul Rauf and Kulalana, a sub chief of her village.

She tendered the cloth in evidence but could not produce the bag of maize saying it is still with the Kulalana.

Led in evidence by the counsel for the commission, Mr Yaw Wiredu-Peprah, Fati who is the 97th witness of the commission, said before the celebration of the Eid-Ul Adha, Diba told her that he had received an invitation from lawyer Mahama to proceed to Tamale to join others to fight for the Ya-Na at Yendi. She said when she advised her son to abandon the idea, he said even if he died during the war, lawyer Mahama had promised to cater for her and build her a house.

Fati said she never heard of Diba again until his brother, whose name she gave as Alhassan told her that he had heard on radio that Diba had died during the Yendi crisis.

To another question by the counsel whether Diba had visited lawyer Mahama before the latest one, she said she could not tell.

When asked how she felt when she heard of the death of Diba, Fati said she wept bitterly.

Fati said on hearing of her son?s death, she told Kulalana to inform lawyer Mahama to produce her son for her or she would report the matter to the authorities.

She said it was after the Kulalana had contacted lawyer Ibrahim in Tamale that he came to her at the village with the cloth and maize as compensation. Fati stated that initially she rejected the items but Kulalana and Alhassan persuaded her to accept them.

Asked by Mr Wiredu-Peprah whether she knew lawyer Mahama personally, witness answered in the negative.

To a question by the commission's counsel whether she made any report to the police, Fati said she first reported the matter to the Bolin Lana who advised her to lodge a complaint with the Yendi police.

When asked by Mr Wiredu-Peprah whether she asked the bearers of the items of the whereabouts of Diba, witness said she did not do so but the donation of the items signified that her son was dead.

To another question by the counsel if she asked of the body of Diba, witness said, ?that is why I am bringing the items for the commission to fight my case for me.?

When Mr Charles Hayibor, leading council for the Andanis suggested to witness that she did not see lawyer Mahama personally but only heard about him from some people, she replied in the affirmative.

Asked by the chairman of the commission, Mr I.N.K. Wuaku whether Diba took part in the Dagomba-Kokomba war or not, Fati said it was lawyer Mahama who sent Diba to Yendi for the war.

To a question by Prof Kwesi Yankah, a member of the commission whether she knew her son was involved in the war at Yendi, Fati said she thought of that because Diba informed her that he was going to Yendi.

Another witness, Baba Tahiru Zoya, a 32-year-old pupil teacher at Nasir-deen Islamic Primary School at Yendi was reminded by Wiredu-Peprah of a memorandum he submitted to the commission in June, this year, through lawyer Yahaya Seini with regard to the disturbances at Yendi.

Asked by Mr Wiredu-Peprah why he did not give a statement to the police, Zoya said on reaching the police station there were many people giving statements so he decided to write a memorandum and give it to lawyer Yahaya Seini before it reached the commission.

Zoya said the memo was hand-written and was typed by lawyer Seini before he appended his signature to it.

Asked whether he belonged to any political party, witness said he was the assistant organiser of the Yendi Constituency of the Convention People?s Party (CPP).

To a question by Mr Wiredu-Peprah if he knew Mr Mohammed Habib Tijani, Zoya said yes and described him as the Yendi District Chief Executive (DCE). Zoya was made to identify the DCE at the hall where the commission sat. Asked whether he knew the former Minister of the Interior, Alhaji Malik Al-Hassan Yakubu, witness answered in the positive and said he got to know him during the 2000 election run-off when his party and others rallied behind the NPP to emerge victorious.

He alleged that he and three other people accompanied Mr Tijani to the Gbewaa Palace to inform the late Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II about his nomination as the Yendi DCE and when they met the Ya-Na he was happy about the nomination. He said on March 25, he met the DCE on his motorbike on the street and reminded him about what he told him that when he heard of any looming trouble in Yendi, he should inform him.

Zoya said at that time there was firing of gunshots at Yendi but the DCE said he could do nothing to stop it.

He said the DCE told him that the Vice President had asked him that anytime the Abudus wanted to celebrate any festival at Yendi, nobody should stop them. Asked by Mr Wiredu -Preprah if the DCE would make such statement in an open place, Zoya insisted that he told him.

He said in the morning of March 26, he saw the DCE near the Bolin Lana?s house and later that day saw him in local war attire near the Yendi Police station. Zoya denied a suggestion by Mr Wiredu-Peprah that he made the allegation to ridicule the DCE and the Vice President.

In answer to a question by Mr Hayibor whether he read the typed statement prepared by Mr Seini before he signed it, Zoya said there was no time for him to go through it but said he still stood by it.

Nana Boahen challenged witness that the certificate he used to secure employment as a pupil teacher does not belong to him since the name on it is Mohammed A. Latif and not Baba Tahiru Zoya, to which he agreed.

He denied counsel?s suggestion that since the DCE questioned him about the impersonation, he has not seen eye-to-eye with him.

Zoya said when the DCE asked for his GCE ?O? Level certificate he told him that he did not pass in English.

According to him, the DCE asked him to look for a certificate somewhere and based on that he managed to get the one with which he is working.

To a suggestion by Nana Boahen that he manufactured the stories because the DCE wanted him to be sacked for impersonation, Zoya said it was not true.

To another suggestion by Nana Boahen that he was coached to write the statement in Tamale that was why he failed to give it to the Yendi Police, witness said he wrote it in his house before giving it to Mr Seini to be typed.

Asked why he became a refugee in Tamale, Zoya said as an Andani, he was in danger in Yendi as they were being pursued by the Abudus so he fled to Tamale for safety.

To a question by Nana Boahen as to why he chose to go to Mr Seini and not any other lawyer in Tamale, witness said he was informed Mr Seini was the lawyer for the Abudu family.

He told Nana Boahen that he did not see lawyer Mahama while in Tamale. When Nana Boahen suggested to him that he was one of the Andani warriors who attacked the Abudus on March 26 and 27 and fled when the Abudus overran them, Zoya said that was not true.

Asked by the counsel why he knew that something serious was going to happen in Yendi, witness said his father told him that in 1969, the Abudus chased them from their house and they had to flee so he was afraid that a similar thing would happen.

He rejected a suggestion by Nana Boahen that he and Razak disconnected telephone lines linking Yendi with the outside world during the crisis. Sitting continues today.