Woman tells NRC about bomb blast

Madam Doris Osei Tutu, a victim of a bomb blast at Teshie, near Accra, on Monday prayed the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) to recommend a fresh investigation into the explosion that deformed her both hands in 1982.

Not only is half of her right palm withered, but also the last two fingers were cut off.

The middle finger is deformed and not functioning. Also, the little finger on the right hand is also deformed and not functioning.

There is also a scar of about four inches up her navel, and also "a nasty scar on the side of her ribs", Prof Abena Dolphyne, a member of the Commission reported after an inspection of the scars on the Witness.

Madam Osei-Tutu, said four people died in the explosion, and three others sustained other various degrees of injuries.

According to the Witness, she passed out after the explosion and came around later at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, where she was hospitalised for four months at the expense of her former husband.

She said the husband could no longer bear the cost of her incapacity and later divorced her.

Madam Osei Tutu said her husband informed her that Mr. Raphael Kugblenu, then Inspector General of Police, and Mr. Johnny Hansen later visited the scene and that, the Police, collected the debris caused by the explosion, for an investigation but no report had been yet been made.

She said she petitioned the then First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, and later the then Head of State Flt. Lt Rawlings, but there was no favourable response.

The Witness said she later appealed to then First Lady, after which she was employed at a 31st December Day Care Centre, but her services were dispensed off after the year, because she was unable to perform to expectation.

She said the government gave her only 10 million cedis as compensation, and she was unable to complete a structure of two chamber and hall on the land she acquired with the money.

Madam Osei Tutu said, she, until recently, was fetching water for masons at construction sites at Kasoa in the Central Region, but could no longer do that work because she felt pain in the ribs.

She said she had almost become a destitute, and prayed the Commission for rehabilitation, and also a suitable employment to enable her get her daily bread.