US embassy cable - 04ACCRA301

UNCLAS ACCRA 000301 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KDEM, GH 
SUBJECT: RAWLINGS AT NRC: BIG BUILD-UP, BIGGER LET-DOWN 
 
REF: 2003 ACCRA 0598 
 
1.  (SBU)   Summary.  Former President Jerry Rawlings 
appeared before the National Reconciliation Commission on 
February 12.  Intense media speculation preceded his 
appearance, which had been the occasion of considerable 
jockeying between the Commission and Rawlings' legal team. He 
answered a short series of questions on video and audio tapes 
of interrogations and executions in the 1980s, and was then 
abruptly, if politely, dismissed.   While the Commission 
successfully secured his attendance, and conducted its 
proceedings in an orderly and fair manner, it largely 
disappointed the Ghanaian public, which had expected a 
thorough-going exchange with Rawlings on human rights abuses 
during his early years in power.  End summary. 
 
2.  (U)  In answer to a subpoena served upon him earlier in 
the week, Rawlings appeared at the Commission chambers in 
downtown Accra accompanied by his attorneys and senior 
officials of his National Democratic Congress.  Large crowds 
of boisterous supporters made entry difficult as policemen 
sought to keep order.   Once in the hall, Rawlings took an 
oath and then calmly answered questions put to him by a 
Commission staff attorney, his responses carried live on 
Ghanaian television.  Embassy employees circulating in the 
city noticed that entire sections of Accra seemingly came to 
a halt as office workers, pedestrians and market ladies 
clustered around radios and TVs. 
 
3.  (U) The questioning began on his knowledge or possession 
of video and audio tapes allegedly made of interrogations and 
executions in two separate incidents in the 1980s.  Rawlings 
acknowledged making an audio tape of the execution ground 
confession of a condemned officer who participated in the 
1983 murder of three judges.  He also acknowledged having 
briefly viewed portions of a video tape of a suspect in an 
attempted coup d'etat in 1984.  He denied any knowledge of 
the tapes present whereabouts. 
 
4.  (U) To the astonishment of Rawlings, the crowded 
galleries, and the assembled Ghanaian media, the Chairman of 
the Commission then dismissed Rawlings, subject to his recall 
for further questioning.  Rawlings made his way back through 
the large crowds of supporters outside the chambers, many of 
whom then marched peacefully to his central Accra residence. 
Said one incredulous journalist, "It took longer for him to 
come and go than to answer their questions."  Upon leaving 
the chamber, Rawlings pronounced the just-completed 
proceedings "polite and decent." 
 
5.  (U) Commission officials expressed satisfaction with the 
proceedings, saying the session had gone as they had "hoped 
and expected."  Commission Executive Director Ken Attafuah 
said that Rawlings appearance had been a "victory for the 
rule of law." The former president had been called, he said, 
to answer two specific evidentiary questions, and was not 
expected to testify generally on his knowledge of the 
incidents concerned. 
 
6.  (U)  Rawlings' appearance before the Commission was the 
subject of mounting speculation in recent weeks, as he and 
his legal team received repeated requests for information, 
and, finally, subpoenas commanding his presence.  The 
Commission has been wrestling with exactly how and when to 
take Rawlings' testimony since March of last year (reftel). 
His former National Security Advisor, Kojo Tsikata, had been 
called on February 10, and had testified at length on the 
subject of the murdered judges.  Tsikata had offered a 
spirited defense of his actions, denying any involvement. 
Observers had expected Rawlings testimony two days later, on 
the identical petition, to be equally vigorous and assertive. 
 
7.  (SBU)  Comment.  Ghanaians expected dramatic exchanges on 
one of the most notorious incidents from the early years of 
Rawlings' PNDC government. Instead, they received a brief, 
rather dry discussion on the whereabouts of audio and video 
tapes.  Rawlings is subject to recall, but he travels 
regularly outside the country, and further testimony may be 
weeks away.  The Commission appears content to have secured 
Rawlings' attendance, and to have conducted his examination, 
however briefly, in a dignified and orderly manner.  However, 
the Commission's focus on carefully structured proceedings 
may, this day, have missed the mark.  Rawlings has been 
accused by Commission witnesses of participation in these and 
other murders.  He has yet to account for or defend his 
actions, an opportunity he, and the Ghanaian public, must 
still await.  End comment. 
Lanier