Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul-Malik Kweku Baako has revealed that between the period of 1982 and 1984, some hundreds of Ghanaians went "missing" during John Jerry Rawlings' tenure as Head of State.
The seasoned journalist made this shocking disclosure on Peace FM’s flagship morning show ‘Kokrokoo’ on Wednesday, 17 October 2018 when discussing issues on the 1982 abduction and extrajudicial killings and assertions by the former president that if he was that bloodthirsty, the best opportunity to have silenced his critics was in 1979 when Ghanaians shouted let the blood flow.
“Under his [Rawlings’] watch, if you don’t know let me tell you today, over 240 Ghanaians disappeared into thin air. One of them is B.B. Bismark. As we sit here, the family doesn’t know where the man disappeared to, and he wasn’t the only person – 247 Ghanaians got lost, they have families,” he said.
A clearly incensed Kweku Baako further stated that “because Mr Rawlings was not prosecuted for overthrowing the People's National Party (PNP) government led by Dr Hilla Limann," he (Rawlings) is the "luckiest Ghanaian. He ought to cool down and keep quiet.”
Genesis
Earlier this month, Multimedia aired a documentary dubbed “Who Killed The Judges?” on the chilling account of the murder of three High Court Judges and a retired army officer, which Mr Rawlings described as an attack on him.
The murder of Justices Cecelia Koranteng Addo, Kwadwo Adjei Agyepong, Poku Sarkodie and retired Major Acquah shook the foundation of the country and the judiciary in particular.
They were accused of being corrupt and bias having adjudicated on high profile cases involving the then military governments AFRC and PNDC all of which had Mr Rawlings as head.
An investigation conducted into the murders by a Special Investigative Bureau (SIB) found Amartei Quaye and others responsible.
Quaye and a few soldiers including Amedeka were to be shot by firing squad but Amedeka broke jail and has since remained a fugitive 36 years on.
The then national security advisor Captain Kojo Tsikata was also named in the investigative report as a “co-conspirator” in the murders but concluded that he, like Amartei Quaye, could not have succeeded in the killing if there was no authorization from a higher authority.
The only higher authority at the time was Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings who was then the head of state the report concluded.
He (Mr Rawlings) has not officially contested the findings of this report.
My Integrity Intimidates & Threatens Some People
But delivering the keynote address at the 2018 KNUST SRC organised TEKTALK event, the former military leader said these are calculated attempts by certain individuals who feel intimidated and threatened by his level of integrity.
According to him, “If I were blood thirsty as these people are claiming, on the 15th of May 79, I could have ignited the thing and left it. ’79 when people were calling for blood, I could have just let go and let people do the killings.
“How do I come back in the 80s when things have cooled down and say I want to kill judges? It was a terrible thing some of our people did. How do you choose how to knock me down without going too low? I have enough true stories about these characters,” he stated.
Noisemaking
But Mr Baako, a key activist in the June 4 1979 uprising, believes the former president should have exercised the option of silence on the issue, wondering why he (Mr Rawlings) is making so much “noise” on the documentary.
To him, Mr Rawlings had several opportunities to respond to the allegations about his alleged complicity in the murder of the judges, but instead declined or refused to appear before the National Reconciliation Commission.
"...he even had to be subpoenaed before he appeared before the Commission," he recounted on PeaceFM.
Adding that if Mr Rawlings failed to cooperate with the NRC and has remained silent all these years in the face of the damning conclusions contained in the findings of the NRC report, it is "intriguing that the same man has found it worthwhile to comment on this documentary".
Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Ambrose_wash
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