US embassy cable - 03ACCRA598

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 
 
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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. 
 
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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. 
 
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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." 
 
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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