Minority, Government Clash Over Yendi Arrests

The Minority in Parliament has stirred another row with the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) over the 2002 carnage in Yendi which claimed the lives of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II and a large number of his elders.

What stoked the latest rage was a statement by the Minority Members of Parliament (MPs), read on their behalf by the Deputy Minority Leader, Mr Ambrose Dery, which described the recent arrest of suspects in the 2002 killings as politically discriminatory.

The Minority also pledged to mount a strong resistance against the government’s perceived bias.

But a Deputy Information Minister, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, countered what he termed the “Minority’s arrogance” with his own “advice” that instead, “the NPP should have been apologetic to the people of Yendi, the people of Ghana and the government for its own dereliction of duty”.

Quoting from the report of the Wuaku Commission which probed the tragic event of 2002 and related matters, Mr Ablakwa expressed the government’s indignation at the “current posture of the NPP, in spite of the dereliction of duty and inaction, for which they stand indicted by the Wuaku Commission Report”.

Curiously, the same Wuaku Commission Report had provided substantial grounds for the Minority’s case.

Recalling events in the aftermath of the March 2002 crisis in Yendi, Mr Dery noted that then President J.A. Kufuor constituted the Wuaku Commission to investigate the events and make recommendations to the government.

He said after its deliberations, the commission came to the conclusion that the events that took place in Yendi on March 25, 26 and 27, 2002 were criminal acts of war fought between the Abudu and the Andani gates for which individuals from both gates were culpable.

Admitting that both the Abudu and the Andani gates would have some reservations with the findings and recommendations of the commission, Mr Dery, however, insisted that “as things stand now, the commission’s work stands as the only legitimate enquiry into the Yendi crisis” and, therefore, the arrests effected in Yendi and Gushiegu, both in the Northern Region, were irregular.

Mr Ablakwa also quoted from the report, saying that the “litany of instances listed on pages 76 and 85 of the report, the relative indifference and inaction of state agencies and the startling revelation that the National Security Adviser, the Interior and the Northern Regional ministers had all been indisposed or not at post during the three days of bloodshed constitute an indictment on the NPP government which the current government is trying to undo”.

He said in so doing, the security agencies had gathered the relevant material and the government “needs not waste any more money on another commission of enquiry”.

“We have not amended our political will to go for the perpetrators of the crime. Crime is crime and has no political colour so I advise the NPP to desist from politicising crime,” he concluded.

In its earlier statement, the Minority had claimed, “The NDC government, by its recent actions in Yendi, has scuttled the good and credible work and efforts being made by the Committee of Eminent Chiefs and the National Peace Council to achieve peace and stability in Dagbon.”

Mr Dery added that the action of the NDC was a clear illustration of its haste to satisfy the outburst, whims and caprices of former President Rawlings and demonstrate its desperation to consolidate its electoral support in Dagbon, irrespective of its social, political and security implications and consequences.

“We pledge to ensure that every citizen, irrespective of tribe, clan, lineage, religion, standing, etc, rightly or wrongly accused receives justice and fair trial in accordance with due process. We remain resolute in this enterprise,” he said.

He said in the absence of any other enquiry, any action taken in respect of the events that occurred in Yendi in March 2002 had to be based on the Wuaku Commission Report which was backed by a government White Paper.

“It is only the courts that can decide on any disagreements that either of the two gates may have on any parts of the commission’s report,” he said.

He said in spite of the credible and laudable efforts made by the NPP, which brought relative peace and stability to Dagbon, the NDC, then in opposition and during the 2008 election run-off, took political advantage to resurrect the Dagbon succession crisis.

He said the NDC promised in its manifesto to set up “a new truly non-partisan, professionally competent and independent presidential commission to reopen investigations into the murder of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani and his followers in March 2002”.

Mr Dery said over the last 15 months of the Mills-led NDC administration, no professionally competent and independent presidential commission to reopen investigations into the murder of the Ya-Na and his followers had been constituted as promised.

He said instead, what the whole nation and the international community had witnessed had been the desperate incessant outbursts and calls by and pressure from former President Rawlings on the Mills administration to arrest and prosecute the alleged murderers of the Ya-Na.

“President Mills demonstrated his bias in this politically and socially sensitive matter by deliberately choosing to call on the Andani Gate and shunning the Abudu Gate during a recent visit to the Northern Region,” Mr Dery said.

He also wondered why barely two weeks after the threat by the children of the late Ya-Na, the nation witnessed one-sided arrests and detention of some elders and traditional leaders of the Abudu Gate of Yendi, contrary to the findings of the Wuaku Commission which, he said, provided the names and possible criminal offences involving members of both gates.

He said those arrested in Yendi were ordinary citizens, noting that he found it unjustifiable for armed soldiers and other security officers to raid their homes at between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. to effect their arrest.

Mr Dery said the NDC had failed to keep faith with its pre-election promise, as contained in its election manifesto, to set up a non-partisan, professionally competent presidential commission to reopen investigations into the unfortunate murder of the Ya-Na and others.