Rawlings’ Aide Goes Wild

Special aide to former President Rawlings, vociferous and unyielding Emmanuel Victor Smith, and former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Peter Tinganaba Nanfuri got up last Friday in a drama of accusation and counter accusation over the peddling of untruths. The drama, which at a point metamorphosed into a battle of war of words, was sparked off by allegation by Mr. Victor Smith that Mr. Nanfuri prior to being relieved of his position as the IGP in 2001 came to the offices of former President Rawlings to complain that he (Nanfuri) was being frustrated by President Kufuor over investigations into the serial killings that hit the country in the run up to the 2000 general elections.

According to Mr. Victor Smith, Mr. Nanfuri had come to look for the former President who was absent. He said Mr. Nanfuri, looking confused and disturbed, sat in a corner of the conference room of the office, and so he (Smith) was forced to join him and inquire from him what the matter was.

Speaking on an Accra-based fm station on Friday, Rawlings’ aid disclosed that Mr. Nanfuri then told him that President Kufuor had asked him (Nanfuri) to put on hold a planned trip to Togo to follow up on some leads on the murder of the 34 women. Speaking on the same network however, Mr. Nanfuri rebuffed Mr. Victor Smith’s assertion and said he has never said that to Mr. Smith. Victor Smith flared up at that point and dared Mr. Nanfuri, who is a Catholic by faith to swear by the cross and say he never uttered those words to him (Smith).

Rawlings’ aid expressed utter shock at what he saw as Mr. Nanfuri’s volte-face, but went on to say, he was not really surprised, because perhaps he was afraid to expose the sitting President. While Mr. Smith insisted that that Mr. Nanfuri did visit the former president’s office in 2001 to narrate his frustrations to him, Mr. Nanfuri denied categorically ever meeting Mr. Victor Smith and complaining to him. “I have never gone to the former president’s office, and I have never told Mr. Smith what he says I told him,” the former IGP stated on air last Friday during that interview. He explained that he was given the sack immediately the NPP government took up reigns of government and so he did not have the opportunity to meet President Kufuor, so that he (Kufuor) could not have prevented him from making any said trip to Togo.

According to Mr. Victor Smith, however, on that fateful day, Mr. Nanfuri did tell him about the sack order, the trip to Togo and added that the President asked him to instead go and see Mr. David Asante Apeatu, Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service. “The President did not tell me that,” Mr. Nanfuri told the FM’s station morning show host, adding that, “what is he purporting never happened.” The interview was sparked off by a news item in an Accra private newspaper, which sought to suggest that, one Charles Quansah, being held for killing eight of 34 women, was innocent of the charges preferred against him.

The newspaper quoted an interview which Charles Quansah played on Radio Gold’s 60 Minutes last Tuesday during which he denied involvement in the killings and stated that he was framed up. Quizzed on the serial killings by the host on the serial killings during which period he was the IGP, Mr. Nanfuri said, the matter is not closed. To him, there are still leads that could be followed to unravel the mystery surrounding the killing of the 34 women, which killing caused panic among the general citizenry. The former IGP was of the view that if the police investigators would do their work with diligence, honesty and dedication, they could get to the bottom of the matter.