Witness tells the court how 7 planned to purge Akufo-Addo government.
When the trial of the ten people charged with treason for allegedly preparing to topple the government began at the Accra High Court on Tuesday, the first prosecution witness named seven people in his statement.
The seven persons were Dr Frederick Mac-Palm, Esther Saan Dekuwine, Bright Alan Debrah Ofosu, Donya Kafui aka Ezor, Corporal Seidu Abubakar, Lance Corporal Ali Solomon and Sylvester Akanpewon.
The examination-in-chief, which started just before 1 p.m, lasted more than three hours.
The prosecution witness, Colonel Isaac Amponsah, who gave his evidence under the examination-in-chief conducted by the Attorney-General (A-G), Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, gave an account on how he was able to gather intelligence about the group.
On June 14, 2018, the Director – General of Defence Intelligence briefed Col Amponsah, who is also a Director of Operational Intelligence at the Defence Operational Department of the Ghana Armed Forces, that a soldier at the Military Academy and Training Schools’ head office had been approached by Dekuwine to recruit some people in an operation to overthrow the government.
He further stated that the Director – General informed him that Dr. Mac-Palm and Mr. Debrah had previously met with certain troops and that the next meeting was set for June 22, 2018.
Col Amponsah then testified that the soldier that was approached was one Corporal Awarf Sule.
When asked by the A-G what occurred after he received the information, the witness stated that he procured a hidden recording device so that the soldier could surreptitiously record all following encounters.
According to Col Amponsah, Cpl Sule attended the arranged meeting on June 22, 2018, and then returned with a video recording made with the hidden device, as well as an audio recording made with his phone as a backup.
Corporal Seidu Abubakar, Lance Corporal Ali Solomon, and Sylvester Akanpewon were among the troops who attended the meeting, according to the witness.
Mr Debrah started by telling them about corruption, and cited the examples of Subah and GEEDA alleged corruption scandals, and indicated that when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was in opposition, they made so much noise about them, but since they took over power, they have made so much noise about them,” Col Amponsah wrote in his analysis.
Col Amponsah testified that he implied that the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were the same.
The gang intended to block all radio stations in the country, with the exception of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, according to the witness (GBC).
One of the troops also advised that the group converse using Gota phones in order to avoid being wiretapped, according to him.
Another meeting was held on July 7, 2018, according to the witness, with Dekuwine, Debrah, and Sule in attendance.
Following the encounter, Col Amponsah informed the court that Sule returned to him with the recorder for analysis as part of his surveillance with the National Investigations Bureau (NIB).
According to his analysis of the July 7 meeting, Dekuwine stated that the group needed to get rid of the President.
He said in court that Awarf gave Mr Debrah a sketch plan with main objectives of sites to block on the day of the purported attempted coup.
The Base Ammunition Depot (BAD) in Tema, the Base Ordinance Depot in Accra near El-Wak, the 66 Artillery Regiment in Ho, the Police Headquarters in Accra, the Police Training School in Tesano, the Air Force base and the Recce Regiment, both at Burma camp, Accra, as well as the Jubilee House, he said.
Source http://graphiconline.com
