Accra, May 26, GNA – Mr Samuel Sarpong Myles, a Farmer and a Former General Merchant from Assin Daaman, on Wednesday appealed to the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) to help retrieve his 19 plots of land, whose documents were seized by the Committee for the Defence of the Revolution (CDR) in 1979.
He said some Policemen and Soldiers arrested him and charged him with hoarding adding that they auctioned 900,000 cedis worth of his goods on June 4, 1979.
The goods included 1,350 lanterns; clothes; bulbs; drinking glasses; plates and a chainsaw.
Mr Myles said his brother was also arrested and the two of them were taken to court, adding that the judge remanded them for three months at the Anomabo Prison for their own safety.
Witness said out of the 900,000 cedis worth of goods sold the Police gave him only 12,000 cedis adding that his brother died later out of shock due to threats by the soldiers to kill them. He said in 1984 a mob led by one Ben attacked him in the house, searched him and took away the documents covering the 19 plots of land at Sowutuom and two other plots at Kaneshie.
Mr Myles said due to what he went through, the education of his six children suffered adding that only one of them was able to continue to the University.
Mr Isaac Tibboh Ahinakwa, a Security Officer from Osu, also appealed to the NRC to help him collect his Social Security due him for working with the Atomic Energy Commission for 15 years. He said he was put on the Social Security Scheme, which he initially refused to take because according to the calculations they made he was to receive 167,000 cedis.
Witness said he had worked with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for 10 years before joining the Atomic Energy Commission adding that the entitlements should have covered his 25 years of working.
The Commission had to explain things to Mr Ahinakwa, after which he agreed to take the SSNIT benefit covering the 15 years.
Mr Yaw Fosu, a Driver said the haulage vehicle he was using in 1985 to cart charcoal from Kintampo to Accra was seized by soldiers, who claimed he and his brother had hoarded some goods.
He said after a search at his father’s house at Techiman nothing was found adding that the soldiers beat him and he was asked to hop and roll for about two hours.
Witness said one of the soldiers used an object to hit his waist and that seriously affected him, adding that he was admitted at the Holy Family Hospital at Techiman for three days and had to stay at home for three months to receive herbal treatment. He said due to the injury he could not walk for a long distance or stand in an upright position.
Opanin Kofi Amposah Kumah, who said he was the Convention People’s Party (CPP) Chairman at Praso, told the NRC that soldiers arrested him and imprisoned him for almost a year at the Ussher Fort prisons for allegedly going into jubilation when General Emmanuel Kwesi Kotoka, a Member of the erstwhile National Liberation Council, was killed in an abortive coup d’etat.
He said the soldiers also arrested his wife with their one-and- a-half- month old baby adding that both mother and child stayed in prison for seven months resulting in the mental derailment of the child. Opanin Kumah said two of his sisters were also arrested for the same allegation and spent seven months in prison adding that his house was demolished and cocoa farm burnt down.
He said while in prison he was asked to carry the faeces of the other inmates adding that he did this for some time but at a point he refused and based on this he was put in a special prison where they never put the light off.
released he suffered visual impairment adding that his children stopped schooling and were now doing menial jobs to earn a living.
He appealed to the Commission to recommend to the government to pay him some compensation.
Source: GhanaWeb
