Accra, Dec 17, GNA-Mr Samuel Kwaku Asante, a witness at the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), on Tuesday said he could no longer invoke his gods, which the police seized when they carried a swoop in Berekuso community near Nkawkaw, in 1990.
He said the police alleged that he and his family had killed a man, Kwabena Bamfo, and drained his blood for sacrifice, and therefore seized the god, and sent it to the Nkawkaw crime laboratory for evidence of bloodstains.
Mr Asante said they never brought the deity back, and as linguist of the god, he could not invoke it because the Police might have destroyed the symbol of the god as well as the brass on which it rested.
He said the god could be moulded again and invoked only if the police admitted their guilt, inform Nana Bemponghene after which the elders would decide on what course of action to take.
Witness, who swore on the Kwahu Brukum god, said until that was done, he was now under the umbrella of the Kwahu Brukum, which he said was the paramount god of the area.
He said the police arrested him, his sister who was the priestess to shrine, and his elder brother, and later released his sister and detained the mother who came to ask of them in the Police Station. He said he and his brother were identified in a parade and they were incarcerated for three years without charge, adding that anytime they went to court the case was mentioned and adjourned.
Mr Asante said he petitioned the Human Rights Commission, which directed him to the Attorney General's Department, which redirected them to the Police Headquarters, where he learned their file had been marked with red ink, and sent back to the Attorney General's Department. The Witness said they became frustrated and stopped going to court after some time.
He said the arrest and detention had cast a slur on their family, and added that it also affected his mother's business. Mr Asante, therefore, prayed the Commission to help the family clear its name, and recommend an appropriate compensation for him.
