Mr Francis Murphy Anane, a former Assistant Superintendent of Police, on Thursday appealed to the Attorney-General to repeal the Police Amendment Act, PNDC Law 194 A of 1988. He made the appeal in a statement to the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) in Accra while giving evidence to the Commission regarding his unlawful dismissal from the Ghana Police Service under the guise of that law in 1988.
Mr Anane, now an employee of the Ghana Employers' Association, read the three paragraph law to the Commission, saying that it was passed as a cover up for the "unlawful dismissals" carried out by the PNDC administration in the Police Service. The Law states that the PNDC in consultation with the Police Council shall have the power to dismiss, remove or take any disciplinary action as it may consider necessary against any member of the Police Service.
"No court or tribunal shall entertain any action whatsoever or take any decision, make an order or grant any relief in any proceedings in respect of any claim arising from any dismissal, removal or disciplinary action taken against a member of the Police Service."
He said the law at that time, vested power in the Chairman of the PNDC to dismiss police personnel in consultation with the Police Council. However, he was reliably informed that in carrying out the dismissals, Mr Justice Daniel F. Annan, the then Chairman of the Police Council, was sidelined.
He claimed that the law was drafted by the Chairman of the PNDC, Flt. Lt Jerry Rawlings, the head of security, Captain Kojo Tsikata (rtd) and the then IGP, Mr. Dewornu.
"That law was an afterthought, which came into effect only after we had been unlawfully dismissed for no apparent offence and when we challenged our dismissal we were slapped with this law, which was gaz etted on December 29, 1989 though it was passed on March 18, 1988," he said. He said several police officers were dismissed under the law, but most of them are now dead, adding that the earlier it was removed from the law books the better it would be for the nation.
Mr Anane told the Commission that since his dismissal he has lived with extreme hatred for former President Rawlings to the extent that Rawlings' photograph makes him angry.
"Anytime I see Rawlings' picture I get annoyed," he said. "As a result of shock from the news of my dismissal, my wife gave birth to a still born baby after seven months of pregnancy."
He said he has done everything he could to seek redress for his unlawful dismissal but to no avail and therefore, requested the Commission to either ensure that he was reinstated to serve his remaining 10 years or given his entitlements.
Narrating circumstance that led to his dismissal, Mr Anane said sometime in 1988, whilst serving as the Head of the Nima Police Unit, he was accused of signing an insurance report for someone to collect insurance benefit in the United Kingd! om.
He said he denied the allegation but he was transferred to Bimbilla pending investigation.
Mr Anane said whilst at Bimbilla, his mother died and he came to Kumasi for the funeral, adding that whilst in Kumasi his name was mentioned on the radio as among other dismissed police officers.
"I retuned to Bimbilla, handed over my district to the officer in charge of Yendi and came to Accra to find out the reasons for my dismissal.
"At the police headquarters no one could tell me anything so I proceeded to the Castle where I was told the order had come from Chairman Rawlings. I was told that Chairman Rawlings called for the files of some police officers and all those whose files were presented to him had been dismissed," he said.
Mr Francis Murphy Anane, a former Assistant Superintendent of Police, on Thursday appealed to the Attorney-General to repeal the Police Amendment Act, PNDC Law 194 A of 1988. He made the appeal in a statement to the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) in Accra while giving evidence to the Commission regarding his unlawful dismissal from the Ghana Police Service under the guise of that law in 1988.
Mr Anane, now an employee of the Ghana Employers' Association, read the three paragraph law to the Commission, saying that it was passed as a cover up for the "unlawful dismissals" carried out by the PNDC administration in the Police Service. The Law states that the PNDC in consultation with the Police Council shall have the power to dismiss, remove or take any disciplinary action as it may consider necessary against any member of the Police Service.
"No court or tribunal shall entertain any action whatsoever or take any decision, make an order or grant any relief in any proceedings in respect of any claim arising from any dismissal, removal or disciplinary action taken against a member of the Police Service."
He said the law at that time, vested power in the Chairman of the PNDC to dismiss police personnel in consultation with the Police Council. However, he was reliably informed that in carrying out the dismissals, Mr Justice Daniel F. Annan, the then Chairman of the Police Council, was sidelined.
He claimed that the law was drafted by the Chairman of the PNDC, Flt. Lt Jerry Rawlings, the head of security, Captain Kojo Tsikata (rtd) and the then IGP, Mr. Dewornu.
"That law was an afterthought, which came into effect only after we had been unlawfully dismissed for no apparent offence and when we challenged our dismissal we were slapped with this law, which was gaz etted on December 29, 1989 though it was passed on March 18, 1988," he said. He said several police officers were dismissed under the law, but most of them are now dead, adding that the earlier it was removed from the law books the better it would be for the nation.
Mr Anane told the Commission that since his dismissal he has lived with extreme hatred for former President Rawlings to the extent that Rawlings' photograph makes him angry.
"Anytime I see Rawlings' picture I get annoyed," he said. "As a result of shock from the news of my dismissal, my wife gave birth to a still born baby after seven months of pregnancy."
He said he has done everything he could to seek redress for his unlawful dismissal but to no avail and therefore, requested the Commission to either ensure that he was reinstated to serve his remaining 10 years or given his entitlements.
Narrating circumstance that led to his dismissal, Mr Anane said sometime in 1988, whilst serving as the Head of the Nima Police Unit, he was accused of signing an insurance report for someone to collect insurance benefit in the United Kingd! om.
He said he denied the allegation but he was transferred to Bimbilla pending investigation.
Mr Anane said whilst at Bimbilla, his mother died and he came to Kumasi for the funeral, adding that whilst in Kumasi his name was mentioned on the radio as among other dismissed police officers.
"I retuned to Bimbilla, handed over my district to the officer in charge of Yendi and came to Accra to find out the reasons for my dismissal.
"At the police headquarters no one could tell me anything so I proceeded to the Castle where I was told the order had come from Chairman Rawlings. I was told that Chairman Rawlings called for the files of some police officers and all those whose files were presented to him had been dismissed," he said.
then Ombudsman, Mr Andoh, Mr. Justice Annan, Chairman of the Police Council and recently to the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), but all to no avail.
He said he was not charged with signing any insurance report as was alleged, adding that since his dismissal he has not received any end-of-service benefits.
In another case, Madam Rose Apedoe told the Commission that 400 bags of cement worth 20,000 cedis and other properties including break fluid, clothes, detergents and other items worth about 300,000 cedis were confiscated by soldiers led by one Mary Tay. The items were seized from her uncompleted building in Nii Boi Town in 1982, during the PNDC era.
She said additionally she was assaulted and held in detention at the Gondar Barracks for two weeks before being released to go home without any of her confiscated items.
Madam Apedoe said she has not sought redress anywhere because her late father advised her not to jeopardise her life fighting for those things.
Now, however, she thinks the environment is conducive for her to seek redress. The Most Rev. Father Palmer-Buckle, member of the Commission, assured the complainants that the Commission would make the appropriate recommendations for redress.
He urged them to make use of the counselling session of the Commission to ease the inherent anger they have developed against the perpetrators of abuse against them
