Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03ACCRA598
2003-03-25 15:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Accra
Cable title:  

NATIONAL RECONCILIATION COMMISSION - ENTER

Tags:  PGOV PHUM GH 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ACCRA 000598 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/23/2013
TAGS: PGOV PHUM GH
SUBJECT: NATIONAL RECONCILIATION COMMISSION - ENTER
RAWLINGS STAGE RIGHT? - CORRECTED FOR DATE IN PARA 1


Classified By: Polchief Richard Kaminski, reason 1.5 (B/D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ACCRA 000598

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/23/2013
TAGS: PGOV PHUM GH
SUBJECT: NATIONAL RECONCILIATION COMMISSION - ENTER
RAWLINGS STAGE RIGHT? - CORRECTED FOR DATE IN PARA 1


Classified By: Polchief Richard Kaminski, reason 1.5 (B/D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC)
continues the balancing act of assembling a historical record
of human rights abuses while avoiding politically charged
proceedings. It faced its most difficult public proceedings
yet when the independent journalist Kwaku Baako deviated from
his expected testimony to offer hearsay evidence. He said
that former President Jerry John Rawlings, in unrelated
incidents, ordered and supervised torture sessions and the
extra-judicial killing of a former colleague. The testimony
invoked cheers and jeers from spectators ) the first hint of
the political circus that the NRC is struggling to avoid.
The NRC has invited former President Rawlings to submit a
written response to the various allegations. The opposition
NDC party, complaining about the admission of hearsay
evidence, fears (or claims to fear) the witch hunt has begun.
The NRC would welcome public testimony from Rawlings, and
Rawlings himself told Poloff in a March 20 meeting that he
will appear if asked. Such testimony could be a useful
exploration of a very violent period in Ghana's history; it
could also polarize political factions. END SUMMARY

--------------
Journalist Testimony
--------------


2. (SBU) On March 11, Kwaku Baako testified as a witness in
the torture case of the late Mawuli Goka (son of a Nkrumah
government Finance Minister) who was tried for treason and
executed. While not an eyewitness to the torture, Baako was
imprisoned with Goka and saw the scars on his body. He
offered very compelling and disturbing testimony on the
abuses heaped on those imprisoned. During the testimony,
Baako also alleged that former President Rawlings ordered and
supervised torture sessions, and also executions, in cases
not before the Commission that day. None of these comments
were based upon personal knowledge. His testimony, before a
packed house, evoked strong reaction from the crowd, and some
hostility to probing questions put to him by opposing
attorneys. Much discussion ensued in local newspapers and
radio stations on the testimony, and Rawlings' NDC party
issued a formal statement criticizing the Commission for

allowing such uncorroborated hearsay testimony to transpire.


3. (C) Poloffs met with NRC Executive Secretary Ken Attafuah
March 21 to discuss the Baaku testimony and further
proceedings. Attafuah initially noted that the NRC was a
quasi-judicial body designed for victim reconciliation as
much as formal fact finding. As such, the rules of evidence
used in a court of law were not binding, but used only as "a
guide". The healing function of the NRC, he said, made it
necessary to afford victims the full opportunity to express
themselves.


4. (C) Although disconcerted by Baaku's sudden straying into
matters not before the Commission, Attafuah said that
Commission members were generally hesitant to interrupt
witnesses who offered hearsay testimony in the midst of
emotional recitations of events. This might be construed as
"inappropriately stifling" testimony. Such evidence would be
admissible, he said, but would only be used in the findings
of the NRC if the weight of further testimony and
investigation warranted it. Generally speaking, NRC
procedures sought to avoid the surprises seen in Baako's
testimony, he further explained. Those testifying are asked
to put their testimony in writing, allowing the accused
advanced warning and preparation. Baako did not submit his
free-ranging and unconnected accusations about Rawlings to
the NRC in advance. Attafuah asserted that the Commission
was anxious to avoid the circus-like atmosphere that often
prevailed at the human rights commission hearings in Nigeria,
and he and Commission members were not about to let such
"straying" occur regularly.

--------------
Possible Rawlings' Testimony
--------------


5. (C) Turning to the subject of former President Rawlings'
possible testimony, Dr. Attafuah stated that the NRC has sent
a letter to Rawlings requesting a written response to the
Baaku accusations. The Commission had also sent several
other letters on unrelated cases, also inviting a response.
The Commission had yet to invite Rawlings to appear
personally before the Commission, and would not consider
doing so before it had heard from a number of other
witnesses. Any decision requesting his appearance would not
be based solely upon the as-yet unsubstantiated hearsay
testimony of Baaku.


6. (C) Attafuah suggested that Rawlings would likely be
eager to appear, and would make a compelling witness. There
were a number of people in contact with the Commission, he
commented, who would attest to their lives being saved by
Rawlings during the very turbulent times when Rawlings first
came to power. Rawlings was the central figure in the 1979
and 1981 coups, he commented, and led the PNDC government for
12 years, a period when many abuses occurred. No testimony
from Rawlings, he said, would significantly diminish the
impact and the work of the Commission.

--------------
Rawlings' Meeting
--------------


7. (C) Polchief met with Rawlings and an aide March 19, and
confirmed that Rawlings had received letters from the
Commission inviting written responses. Regarding the Kwaku
Baaku testimony, the former President said his legal team
(led by former Speaker and Supreme Court Justice D. F. Annan)
would essentially reply that "I don't comment on hearsay
testimony." Although much perturbed by the Kwaku Baaku
submissions, Rawlings said that if invited to appear before
the Commission, he would do so "willingly."


8. (C) Rawlings, agitated and emotional, said repeatedly that
he had only witnessed a single execution during his time as
an officer in the Air Force, and, later, as Head of State:
that of a fellow member of the armed forces involved in the
murder of Ghanaian judges in 1982 who had been properly tried
and found guilty. He denied overseeing torture sessions. He
saw the Kwaku Baaku testimony, he said, as "one more example
of the NPP trying to ruin the NDC and myself." He also
asserted that, should he appear, he would have ample examples
of how he in fact restrained "the boys" during a time when
many abuses did indeed occur, and many more killings "could
easily have happened."

--------------
Comment
--------------


9. (C) Comment. Kwaku Baaku, local journalist and political
gadfly, runs a local paper in which he attacks Rawlings in
nearly every issue. The Commission could easily have
anticipated Baaku "straying" from his anticipated testimony.
Perhaps it simply chose to let him proceed, and raise
explosive issues that it must, in time, examine in more
comprehensive fashion. In any case, the issue is now joined,
and both the Commission and Rawlings' handlers assert they
are ready and willing to have him testify in open session.
Rawlings, still a very skilled and charismatic speaker, will
be no pushover.


10. (C) Comment continued. Testimony by Rawlings on his
role in the 1979 and 1981 coups, and on abuses during his
time as head of state, will make great political theater. If
he is indeed allowed to tell his story as he sees it, and
bring witnesses to support him, the Commission may, through
that testimony, and the testimony of the many victims who
suffered grievously, shed an accurate light on some very dark
moments in Ghanaian history. However, avoiding descent into
catcalls and general chaos will require a firmer
administrative hand on proceedings than that exhibited during
the Baaku testimony. End comment.
YATES