Witness apologises at NRC

Accra, June 15, GNA - Mr James Adduah Addy, a Former Senior Protocol Officer now a Farmer, on Tuesday apologised to Mr Martin Amidu, one time Deputy - Attorney General, for wrongly accusing him of being responsible for his imprisonment.

Mr Addy had alleged that Mr Amidu signed a letter that transferred his trial at Bolgatanga High Court to Accra that eventually landed him in jail for five years.

The Witness, who said he was charged with the murder of one Charles Ayanka, a Deputy Upper East Regional Administrative Officer, accused Mr Amidu, now a Private Legal Practitioner, of engineering the transfer of the case purely on tribal grounds. Mr Addy is a Kassena while Mr Ayanka and Mr Amidu were Builsas.

During a cross examination by Mr Amidu it came out that it was Mr E. G. Tanoh, then the Attorney General, who signed the letter. Mr Amidu said he knew Mr Addy long before Mr Ayanka, adding that the former was even closer to him than the latter and could not have possibly signed the letter.

The Witness later accepted that he had wrongly accused Mr Amidu so he apologised to him saying; "we will still continue to be friends; till death do us part."

Narrating what led to his five years' imprisonment, Mr Addy said before he was transferred to Accra in 1983, there was a misunderstanding between him and his wife, adding that Mr Ayanka, who was then the Deputy Regional Administrative Officer got involved and this resulted in a fight.

Mr Addy said some few weeks later, Mr Ayanka died and he Addy was arrested and charged with murder.

He said even though the Bolgatanga High Court acquitted and discharged him, about 30 armed Policemen re-arrested him the moment he came out of the Courtroom saying that they were acting on orders from the Attorney General's Department.

The Witness said he never saw the letter but felt that because Mr Amidu was from the same ethnic group as the deceased, he was not happy with the ruling hence he signed the letter to get him jailed. He said he was later tried at the Accra Public Tribunal where he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, adding that he was not given a fair trail.

He appealed to the NRC to reinstate him.

Nana Akontimaako Asare of Akyem Abuakwa who said he was dismissed from the Police Service when he was a Superintendent appealed to the NRC to help him receive his pension and gratuity.

He said he should have retired at the rank of a Chief Superintendent but was made to serve as a Superintendent for 10 years. The Witness said he joined the Police Service in 1962, adding that he was a ballistic expert attached to the Forensic Crime Laboratory. He said when he closed from duty sometime in 1981 soldiers on patrol arrested him, adding that they accused him of being a spy. Nana Asare said he explained that he was a Chief Inspector and a ballistic expert with the Police Service, adding that the soldiers asked him to identify the guns they were holding.

He said after the identification, one of the soldiers brought his gun very close to his head, touching his ear lobe and started shooting into the air adding, "he then asked me to identify the sound of the gun but I could not due to its closeness to my ear." He said they later released him but when he got home, he realised that that side of his jaw had swollen adding that he took some paracetamol tablets and slept.

Nana Asare said some few days later half of his face got swollen and he went to the Police Hospital for treatment but was transferred to Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, adding that he was flown to Nigeria where he was operated.

He showed the scars and the teeth he had lost due to the shooting to the Commission.

Nana Asare said when he resumed work he was asked to arrest one Mr Ofosu Armaah but he refused, adding that he was transferred to the Northern Region as a result of which he lost most of his personal property.

He said he was later dismissed through a radio announcement.