Ho, Jan. 24, GNA- The NRC would make recommendations for payment of reparations for some of the petitioners and that the important thing was for the petitioners to come to terms with what happened to them and put the past behind them.
Bishop Charles Palmer-Buckle, a member of the Commission said this on Friday at its fourth day of the nine-day sitting of National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) sitting in Ho.
Bishop Palmer-Buckle said evidence before the NRC that people still feel hurt which many people now were not aware of, gave credence to the objective of the NRC.
In his petition Mr Kwaku Ansah Tsiagbe, from Taviefe-Aviefe said his deceased father, Lawrence Kumatse Tsiagbe, had to flee to Kpalime in Togo under threats of being arrested under the Preventive Detention Act in the First Republic.
He alleged that his father's name was submitted to the authorities by members of the defunct Young Pioneers, a Mass Youth Movement in the Nkrumah regime for the part he played in a movement that sought independence for the Trans Volta Togoland.
Mr Tsiagbe said his fathers absence in exile brought hardship to the family as many of the children could not pursue education to the levels they would have wished.
Mr Newlove Kweku Asiedu, who is unemployed and lives in Aflao said as the Depot Supervisor of the erstwhile Timber Marketing Board at Aflao in May 1982, he was molested by six Border Guards as a result of a misunderstanding over inspection of timber products for export. Mr Asiedu who said he was left in such a bad shape that his wife failed to recognise him told the NRC that he lost a teeth and had to be transferred from the Saint Anthony's Hospital at Dzodze to a private clinic in Accra.
He said he was currently intermittently unable to walk and could hardly do any meaningful work.
Mr Asiedu said in another incident in 1978, a Captain Sam, then at Aflao ordered that he should be beaten for improper conduct when he was being quizzed over movement of some boards towards the Aflao town. He said those who molested him in the first instance were put in a Guard Room for sometime and released.
Buami testifies before NRC
Ho, Jan. 24, GNA- Mr Emmanuel Quarcoo Buami, a former Principal Administrative Assistant of the defunct Volta Regional Development Corporation (VRDC) on Friday told the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) sitting at Ho that but for the courage of a soldier and a guard at the Ho Prisons, he would have been killed by soldiers on December 31, 1981.He said one day, after his summary dismissal, three soldiers came to his house.
Mr Buami said he was then ordered to surrender his Peugeot car key and to follow them to the Barracks, amid beatings and wailing from his children as his wife had travelled to Dambai.
He said one of the soldiers then corked his rifle and aimed at his children threatening to "spray" them if they did not keep quiet. The petitioner said on his return from the barracks he lost several building materials including the Peugeot and another car.
He said at the Barracks he was accused of stealing the engine of a Mazda car belonging to his former employers.
Mr Buami said one Lieutenant Akofur he became angry with his accusers and ordered that he should be released immediately.
He said at another time he was arrested and detained at the Ho Police cells but he protested to a Senior Officer about the deplorable conditions in the cell and he was transferred to Ho Prisons.
He said one night, a Prison guard ran to the cells area shouting "who is awake", and he responded and the guard told him that some soldiers were attempting to break into the prison to whisk him away to be executed.
"That was in the night during which the three Judges and the senior Army Officer were killed".
Mr Buami said the prison guard told him that he had only three bullets in his rifle one of which he had already fired and if after firing the remaining two without success then they could break in.
He said luckily when the guard fired the last bullet other guards woke up compelling the jail breakers to flee.
Mr Buami said the following day, he was entrusted into the care of an armed soldier who was ordered to drive him to Accra and he was detained at the James Fort Prison for six months during which he shared the same cell with Mr Freddie Blay, the first deputy speaker of parliament and Dr John Nabilla, a former Minister in the third Republic.
He said he contested his unlawful dismissal in Court and won but he was not reinstated. He therefore, petitioned the Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
Mr Buami said he was paid 400,000 cedis in 1983 after persistent visits to the Castle.
