A GNA News Feature by Boakye-Dankwa Boadi
Accra, May 9, GNA - The Ghana News Agency reported that President John Agyekum Kufuor on Sunday (May 7 2006) visited Yendi to pay tribute to the late Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II and called on his Regent, Kampakuya-Na Abdulai Yakubu Andani at the Gbewaa Palace.
President Kufuor congratulated Kampakuya-Na Andani on his successful installation as Regent of Dagbon and urged him to ensure that the roadmap to the peace process was implemented to bring unity and development to the area.
He said: "Dagbon is a bright corner of the country and as such, we cannot talk about total peace in the country if there is no peace in Dagbon."
In the course of the interaction, the Regent told the Government that while he (Regent) continued to express his optimism in the roadmap to peace and remained steadfast in his commitment to ensure its success, much would depend on the request for the rule of law to prevail, which was at the heart of the New Patriotic Party tradition. "I renew my call that for lasting and enduring peace to prevail in Dagbon the culture of impunity must stop and the rule of law must be allowed to prevail."
"This is why it is of critical importance that those responsible for the (assassination) of my father and the 30 members of his retinue must be apprehended and brought to justice to send a clear signal...that the law is supreme and that nobody is above the laws of the land", he said.
President Kufuor in response told the Regent that he believed with his heart and mind in the rule of law and was committed to ensure that justice was done. He went further to draw attention to the motto of Ghana - "Freedom and Justice".
He said truth was like a cork which could not be submerged under water but would pop up sometime later.
This is a truism which the Royal Andani Gate of Dagbon should accept and believe in. Indeed if President Kufuor were speaking to Akans he would simply have said: "Se wo ka ntam kesee gu amena mu a epue fi" and the people would have accepted it without question. As if to demonstrate this truism "Public Agenda" in its Monday Edition No 548 of May 8 2006 published under a banner headline: "AngloGold Accused of Bloodletting" and on page five of the same edition a picture showing "The scars of Awudu' s gunshot wounds he sustained after being shot by AGC Security".
It may be pertinent to narrate how these two events are linked. On June 21 2005 the Police, the Military and AngloGold Ashanti Security opened fire on Awudu Mohammed, whom they claimed at a certain stage was an armed robber, even though he was a small-scale miner operating on the concession of AngloGold.
AngloGold Ashanti and the Obuasi Police issued a press statement to deny a Ghana News Agency report that Awudu was shot. They claimed that Awudu was pierced by spikes on a gate when he attempted to scale the gate to run away.
However, the GNA followed the story and got the Surgeons at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, who performed surgical operation on Awudu, to state unequivocally that Awudu was shot.
AngloGold Ashanti still continued with its lies and went ahead to put up a defence on the Internet. This writer, who happened to be following the story decided to leave AngloGold Ashanti to its wiles since he considered the mining company as an unrepentant and callous corporate citizen of Ghana.
Now the truth which AngloGold Ashanti sought to keep under water has resurfaced with "Public Agenda" revisiting the incident with its lead story: "Chilling evidence of bullet scars left on the body of Awudu Mohammed, 25, an alleged illegal gold miner (galamsey) has put AngloGold Ashanti once more on the spotlight."
Just below the story is another one, which to the uninitiated could be explained away as a coincidence - "Public Agenda Adjudged Best Human Rights Newspaper for 2005."
Going back to the words of President Kufuor, this writer would like to assure the Andani Royal Gate of Dagbon that the whole truth about that dastardly regicide would definitely come out some day. Until that day comes one would like to appeal to them to go along the roadmap to peace with religious fervour and leave everything in the hands of Providence, who at the most auspicious time would reveal the truth.
Long live the new found peace in Dagbon. Long live Ghana, the beloved country.
