Recently, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Mohammad Mumuni, told Parliament that the Gambian government had paid a compensation of $500,000 to the families of the victims of the killings of 40, or so, Ghanaians and other nationals in July 2000 in the Gambia.
Mr. Martin Kyere, the lone escapee from the massacre, who broke the news to the Ghanaian authorities leading to investigations, was also compensated.
All and sundry agree that the compensation is just a symbolic token and not a replacement for the lost lives, but, to me, it also brings closure to the case and proves beyond all reservations that Nana Akuffo-Ado, who held Mumuni’s position in the previous government that was in office when the killings occurred, is a do-nothing man who is not worthy of even his own vote in any election.
When Mr. Kyere gave his eyewitness narration of the butchery, Nana Do Nothing Akuffo-Ado, the then minister of Foreign Affairs, did not want to involve himself in the case until the Coordinator of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) in Africa, Oye Lithur, pressurized him into action by persistently publicizing the case. Ms. Lithur forced Nana to 'end his silence on this serious issue and make his ministry's standpoint known to the public’. When Mr. DoNothing halfheartedly got involved, he made four trips to the Gambia to 'investigate' the case but to no gain. At times, on his return, he did not even report his findings.
All he cared about was the government voucher for him and his personally selected freeloaders for the trip. In all, he could not even get the Gambian government accept that the massacre happened. Not until a new government was voted into power, Mr. DoNothing Akuffo-Ado had ended the case as if the victims' lives were of no value.
In March 2002, a chieftaincy scuffle resulted in the beheading of the
Yaa-Na, Yakubu Andani, and the killing of many of his followers in daylight. At that time, Nana DoNothing Akuffo-Ado was the Minister of Justice. He treated the case so lackadaisically that some openly expressed the belief that the government was covering up for the sponsors of the manslaughters.
Despite a peaceful protest in Tamale by the Andani family and sympathizers on the anniversary of the UN Freedom Day as a way of obligating the government to find the killers, Nana did not act. With a new government in power, arrests and prosecutions of suspects are ongoing, but to Mr. DoNothing, the case had long ended as if the victims' lives did not matter.
Wait, there is more indication that Nana has no regard for his fellow
Ghanaians and that the $30,000 gold medal that he accepted from Kuffour for being a human rights advocate is unmerited. In the run-up to the 2000 elections the Northern Regional Chairman of the CPP Alhaji Issah Mobillah campaigned energetically for the ruling NDC but once the NPP won, he surrendered to the police in Tamale because he was being sought ‘for questioning’. He was detained in an army guardroom at Kamina Barracks only to be found dead in the morning with broken bones and bruises indicating that he had been tortured to death. The same man in question, Nana DoNothing Akuffo-Ado, was the Attorney General whose office held the docket on the
case but true to his character, Nana did nothing. This is yet another case that Nana put to bed as if the victim's life was inconsequential but the new government is now actively pursuing the perpetrators.
With all these cases in mind, can you tell why Kuffour nominated Mills from the opposition NDC for an award and only rewarded Nana after much disapproval from the NPP hierarchy? Isn’t Nana a coldhearted man who would walk over dead bodies to the presidency? It’s a shame that the best person that the NPP can find to lead them is this do-nothing man. Nana will remain a nuisance to the party for year to come.
Source: Voice Of Reason
Please rate this
Poor
Excellent
Votes: 0 |NaN out of 5