I fled to escape execution - Major Agbeko-Sedziafa

Accra, July 13, GNA - Major Agbeko-Sedziafa John Kwami (RTD) on Tuesday told the National Reconciliation Commission that he had to flee into exile in 1982 because he was on the list of people to be executed. He said a Corporal came to him that he was asked to carry out his execution, adding that, after he (Kwami) had told him of his life history, the Corporal asked him to continue with his work.

Major Agbeko-Sedziafa, who said he is now the security coordinator for the Ghana Trade Fair Authority said, during the middle of January 1982, his commander said he had been given indefinite leave, adding that he could not guarantee his safety.

He said he was the head of security in 1965, but left the country with Dr Kwame Nkrumah when he went into exile.

Witness said he spent six years in exile and when he came back he was given a dismissal letter for misconduct.

Major Agbeko-Sedziafa said after working for 19 years the military paid him only 36,700 cedis as entitlement, which he refused to take.

Major Agbeko-Sedziafa said though he petitioned the legal directorate of the Ghana Armed Forces, which recommended that he should be considered as a pensionable officer and pay him accordingly, nothing was given to him.

He said the treatment he received after his long service would not encourage others to die for this country. Witness appealed to the Commission for compensation.

Mr Emmanuel Larbi, Drill Inspector of the Ghana Fire Service who gave evidence on behalf of his father, the late Sergeant Samuel Kwame Larbi, said in 1979 his father then with the 48 Engineers Regiment was detained from 1983 to 1989 for allegedly hiding one Lieutenant Ekow Dennis who was being sought after.

He said his father was made the military farm manager in 1986 when he returned from Lebanon, adding that, one day when he returned from the village he was told some policemen had come for his belongings.

Mr Larbi said when his father enquired at the police station, he was arrested on the premise that he was hiding Ekow Dennis, and so, he was taken to the Bureau of National Investigations, then to Usher Fort where he spent six years.

Witness said the Army stopped his father's salary when he was imprisoned adding that, the family had to sell his valuable properties to look after him.

He said his father died a year and a half later when he returned from prison, adding that, he could not continue his education due to his father's predicament.

Mr Larbi said his mother also died a year later after his father's death and therefore appealed to the Commission to help claim his father's money for the six months he spent in prison.