LMVCA protestor gets new eye

Thirty-six-year-old Justice Adzakumah, who was shot in the eye by a police officer during a demonstration in Accra in September, has finally had his damaged eyeball replaced with a prosthetic eye.

Daily Guide on Wednesday caught up with the father of two spotting a new eye and beaming with smiles, making it almost impossible to detect that he has ever had a damaged eye.

He could not but thank God for how far he has brought him saying, “I’m feeling good now; when I watch myself in the mirror, I say to myself, ‘I am an honourable man. I look like how I was before except for the fact that I can’t see with the eye but I will manage it like that,’ he said.

Justice was one of several persons who fell victim to police brutalities during the September 16, 2015 demonstration organized by Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) and some other pressure groups to press home the demand for an entirely new voter register ahead of the 2016 general elections.

Wednesday was exactly a week since he was given the prosthetic eye in addition to a special spectacle at the Eye Clinic of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.

He said he was a happy man for the simple reason that he has a replacement of the damaged eye through the benevolence of Gabby Otchere-Darko and the Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA).

Justice’s only pain and regret is that he has not gotten the justice he had so much desired although he lost an eye fighting for what he believes was and still is a good cause.

He was however, hopeful that his lawyers who had promised to fight for him would do so in due course since what the police did on that day was not only inhuman, but defied logical reasoning. Convener of the LMVCA, David Asante, could not hide his joy for the young man.

“I am very happy with the high-spirited posture of Justice… he is an inspiration to all of us in the struggle to consolidate and deepen democracy; our quest to fight to seek justice for our brother Justice will not seize until we get there,” he told Daily Guide.

He stressed, “Never again in the history of our body politics will demonstrators be brutalized. Justice has paid the price with his blood and an eye…it’s sacred enough!” .