Saga of Eight Ghanaians Swapped for One

AFTER THE National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) was rocked by the startling claims made by ex-Cpl. Matthew Adabugah last month, the next shocking rendition is expected to come from Major (Rtd) John Awuakye who arrives in the country pretty soon to give account on how he and seven other Ghanaians were stripped off their nationality.

Major Awuakye has already written a petition to the commission in which he recounted how they were exchanged for a cousin of former President Rawlings. Awuah has anxiously asked for the unconditional restoration of his Ghanaian citizenship.

The retired army major, who was commissioned as an officer with Intake 7 of the Ghana Army in 1965, was among eight full-blooded Ghanaians who were stripped off their Ghanaian nationalities in 1985, by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), in exchange for Mr. Michael Soussoudis, a cousin of former President Rawlings.

They were "repatriated" to the United States of America (USA) in the same year, where Awuakye has remained for the past 17 years.

He has called on the NRC to issue him with a new passport to replace the old one that was taken from him, cancel his release from the army for alleged misconduct and compensate him for the suffering that he and his family had gone through over the last two decades.

He has also called on the NRC to grant him the use of his rank in civil life and pay all entitlements due him with interest and appropriate compensation.

His justification, he says, is the fact that his release was without just cause, as he did not reach the compulsory retiring age of a major.

Mr. Michael Soussoudis, a cousin of former President Rawlings, was arrested while in the USA in 1985, and was being held on espionage charges.

Eight Ghanaians were rounded up by the erstwhile PNDC, sent to Lome, the capital of Togo, where they were airlifted to the USA through Germany.

They arrived in the USA on December 23, 1985. In a petition dated January 9, this year, addressed to the chairman of the commission, John Awuakye, recounted how Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi, the then PNDC secretary for Local Government, quizzed and accused him of being an agent for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), adding that government had agreed to exchange a group of Ghanaians for Mr. Soussoudis who had been arrested in the USA.

The petition quoted: "On or about November 21, 1985, the then director of Ordinance Services, Ministry of Defence, conveyed to me an order that I should report to the police headquarters in my own interest. "By the nature of the message, I immediately reported to the police headquarters and was directed to see Kwamena Ahwoi.

"At the meeting, Mr. Ahwoi asked me the following questions; you are Major John Awuakye, your wife's name is Esther Awuakye and her maiden name is Keteku, your children's names are Barbara, Antoinette and Kizita and you attended a course in the United States in 1982? "

After I had answered the above questions in the affirmative, Mr. Ahwoi informed me that I had been mentioned as co-operating with the CIA and Mr. Soussoudis, a cousin of then Chairman Rawlings, had been arrested in the United States and that the government had agreed to exchange some Ghanaians including me for his release," stated the petition.

According to the petitioner, Ahwoi told him that he did not have any option in the matter and that his safety in the country could not be guaranteed, if he refused to go to the United States.

He was asked to surrender his passport two days later and together with the seven others, he was escorted in a convoy to Lome, Togo, before they were finally deported to the USA.

He stated in the petition that the charges and deportation had had "adverse and disastrous consequences on me emotionally, mentally, psychologically, socially, culturally and physically. I am in turmoil over this stigma which is an infringement of my fundamental human rights."