Latest from the Wuaku Commission

Mr Francis Laryea Okang, Yendi Area Manager of Ghana Telecom (GT) on Wednesday told the Wuaku Commission that the cut-off of telephone links from Yendi to the outside world from 25 Monday to Wednesday 27 March during the Yendi conflict was a "a sheer co-incidence".

He attributed the fault to "power fluctuation", which caused the blow up of the fuses within the circuits, thus making it impossible to make or receive external calls during the period.

Mr. Okang, who was testifying before the commission in Sunyani as the 42nd witness, ruled out sabotage either within the company or from elsewhere to make the work of GT difficult during the crisis. His assertion was however, debunked by counsel for the Volta River Authority, Mr. Raymond John Lartey, who stated that the fault "might be an internal cause within the GT system and not from the VRA".

Mr. Okang said that he was on duty in Salaga on Monday, 25 March, when he was informed, after calling Tamale that calls from outside to Yendi were not going through. On Tuesday, 26 March, he said he arranged with a technician from Tamale to rush to Yendi to save the situation and when he verified at noon, he was told that the technician had left for Yendi.

Mr Okang recounted that he realised that there was a major problem when he called from Tamale at about 5.00 p.m. and was informed that nothing had been heard from the maintenance team that went to Yendi. He added that he, therefore, left for Salaga at 7.00 a.m. on Wednesday, 27 March, and when he reached the Yendi barrier at 9.00 a.m. he saw a lot of people fleeing from the town.

I noticed that there were no cars on the road, nobody at the Yendi market whilst there were no activities going on in the town, he said. Mr Okang continued that those in his car told him they saw at the other side of the road towards the police station four men dragging somebody.

He said they became very frightened and had to speed-off to Tamale instead of remaining in Yendi to check whether the telephone problem had been rectified.

Mr Okang said after seeking security assistance from the Regional Co-ordinating Council, he mobilised another maintenance team at 5.00 p.m. and they reached Yendi at 8.00 p.m. during the curfew period.

He added that after a check, the team detected that one of the fuses in the unit supplying power to the radio had gone off. Mr. Okang said in a reply to a question from counsel for the commission, Mr G.K. Owoo, that it does not take a long period to repair a blown fuse but when this was done other problems were detected.

During cross- examination, counsel for the Andanis, Mr Charles Hayibor alleged that a watchman at the Ghana Telecom Repeater Station in Sam rpt Sam had confirmed that when GT officers came to the station during the period, the lines went off. Counsel added that according to the watchman when GT officials came back to the station on Wednesday after the crisis, the lines started working.

Mr Okang replied that the watchman did not know anything about the system and the whole allegation was "a very big lie". After being bombarded with a lot of questions and fumbling in answering some of them, the commission discharged him on a note that he was not credible.

Another official from the Telecom, Mr Justice Kwame Segbefia, said he was part of the team that was detailed to repair the breakdown of communication in Yendi on Tuesday, 26 March. He confirmed that the fault was due to a fault within the power supply system since he realised after checking that the electricity voltage was faulty.

Asked by the Commission if the fault could have been created by someone who was not a staff of the company Segbefia answered that he could not tell, because he was not from the transmission.

To a question by the Commission as to whether it was possible that the fault could have been created by someone from outside Segbefia said it was not possible since the place was a restricted area. Segbefia, the 44th witness and a mechanic with the company in Tamale, was thereafter cross- examined by counsel for the Volta River Authority, Mr Lartey.

Witness told the commission that the VRA is the source of power supply to the Ghana Telecom and if there was fault as a result of fluctuations, then nobody else could be blamed but VRA. Mr Segbefia accused the VRA of sometimes taking power from the transformer allocated to the Telecom to supply power to some private residences and that, he said could cause power fluctuations.

Alhassan Naziru, a security assistant of GT in Yendi told the commission in an answer to a question that on the morning of Monday, 25 March, both their standby electric power generator and electricity supply from the VRA were working simultaneously. He said that was not unusual since in the event of low-voltage power supply by the VRA system, the generator worked to supplement the system's power requirement.

Naziru, the 45th witness, said the situation had been like that till 6.45 p.m. on the Monday when some customers who were using a public pay-phone booth drew his attention to the line cut-off.

Witness said he realised after verification that whilst the Yendi local circuit was working, the circuit for the Tamale and the outside world was not. He said on Tuesday morning, he sent a young-boy, one Tajudeen, a nephew of the Yendi post-master to go and inform the GT office in Tamale about the problem.

I, however, did not hear from him until 4.00 p.m. when the maintenance team arrived from Tamale but they could not restore the line that day and had to spend the night in Yendi. He told the commission that it was until Wednesday evening that the team was able to restore the Yendi lines to the outside world.

Mr. Peter Duku, a staff engineer of the VRA in Yendi, who testified as the 43rd witness, said he was not aware that telephone calls from Yendi to other places did not go through during the crisis period. He told the commission that there was no power fluctuation on 25 and 26 March as had been alleged by staff of the Ghana Telecom.

There was, however, power fluctuation on Wednesday, 27 March, when it was reported that some poles at the Gbewaa Palace had got burnt, exposing live wires on the ground, he said. The engineer added that a mechanic with the Authority therefore, requested for a power fluctuation to enable him to go and repair the lines.

Asked by the Commission when the poles got burnt Duku said he could not tell. Witness told the commission that no report about the alleged power fluctuation has been received from Ghana Telecom after the crisis.

In an answer to a number of questions pertaining to the supply of power to the Ghana Telecom in Yendi, Mr Duku said he was not qualified to give any answer since that was the duty of the Northern Electricity Department (NED) of the VRA. Earlier, Iddrisu Gyamfo, a farmer and former tender of Ya-Na's cattle was called to testify as the 41st witness to answer some allegations levelled against him by Nantogmah Alhassan Andani, the 21st witness.

Andani had told the commission that Gyamfo was one of the men who set the Gbewaa palace ablaze on Wednesday, 27 March. Gyamfo, however, denied during his testimony tat he took part in the burning of the palace, saying he was nowhere near the palace at that time. He stated that he went to the Ya-Na's palace in the company of his father and one Damanko, an elder, to greet the chief on the morning of Monday, 25 March

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Witness said the late Ya-Na gave them 10,000 cedis to buy drinks when they were leaving and as they enjoyed the drinks at Damanko's house, near the palace, he heard gunshots in the area. I was hit by a bullet on one of my fingers when I came out to verify what was happening, the farmer added.

Gyamfo said when he realised that the situation was tense he took his sick father, wife and three children to a safe place and did not return until Wednesday evening. Unable to give clear answers to most questions from the commission, it (the commission) asked Nantogmah to cross- examine him.

During cross-examination Gyamfo said it was not that he held a gun on Tuesday, 26 March, in the company of others. Gyamfo said because he was Ya-Na's cattle tender he used to go to the chief's palace with his father on several occasions.

When counsel for the commission, Mr. George Owoo, asked if he knew of any reason why Nantogmah had levelled the allegation against him, Gyamfo replied in the negative. Mr Owoo, therefore, told him that, "the only reason is that what Nantogmah is saying is true". To a question by Nana Obiri Boahen, counsel for the Abudus, as to which of the gates he belonged to, Gyamfo replied that he is an Andani.

Witness said he even wanted to take his gun to go and protect the Ya-Na during the crisis "because I am one of his junior warriors". The commission at this juncture told witness that despite being a member of the Andani Gate, he had had a problem with the Ya-Na for sometime now.

Gyamfo: I was the Ya-Na's cattle tender and could not have had problems with him.

Commission: Why did the Ya-Na sack you as his cattle tender?

Gyamfo: It was due to the loss of two of the cattle.

Commission: Couldn't the dismissal be a good reason for you to join the opposing group?

Gyamfo: No, I couldn't have joined the opposing faction and burnt the Ya-Na's palace since he was my breadwinner.

When the commission discharged him, Gyamfo asked through the interpreter, "since the Ya-Na was feeding me, how could I have burnt his house?" The chairman of the commission, Justice Wuaku, retorted that "nature is wonderful, hence a son can rise up against his parent at anytime".

Gyamfo insisted that it was impossible for him to do anything against the Ya-Na, to which Justice Wuaku replied that, "I cannot believe you, for even the devil does not know anybody's mind". Sitting continues tomorrow.