The Public Affairs Director of the Ghana Police Service, ACP David Eklu, has said
that there is no information on the possible extradition of former Gambian leader,
Yahya Jammeh to the country to face trial over his alleged role in the 2005 massacre
of 44 Ghanaians off the coast of Banjul.
In a telephone interview with the African Press Agency on Wednesday, Eklu said: “I do not have such information on my table.”
He explained that such information has not reached the Ghana Police Service.
The massacre of 44 Ghanaians in Banjul, Gambia in 2005 has taken a political twist as politicians of two giant political parties in Ghana, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) are playing politics with the issue with none of them showing any seriousness to bring the perpetrators of the heinous crime to book.
The Ghanaians were reported to have died or disappeared on July 23, 2005.
A total of 54 persons were reported to have boarded the boat with a promise to be ferried to Europe for greener pasture, but met their untimely death.
In March 2006, Ghana and The Gambia agreed to commence investigations into the death of the 44 Ghanaians in Gambia, following pressure mounted by the opposition NDC, accusing the government of doing nothing to seek compensation for the victims.
Incidentally, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was then Minister of Foreign Affairs and visited The Gambia on the massacre of the Ghanaian nationals.
A series of exchanges took place between the two governments in 2006.
This led to the formation of a joint investigative team by the two countries to investigate all aspects of the murder or disappearance of the 44 Ghanaians.
The Ghanaian team comprised Mr. David Asante Apeatu, Director-General, the Criminal
Investigations Department of the Police Service, who was later appointed Inspect General of Police, Mr. E. Odoi-Anim, Acting Director-General, Legal and Consular Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other senior officers of the Ghana Police Service.
Their report was not made public. Mr. Asante Apeatu, the immediate past Inspector General of Police did not do anything about the issue before he was relieved of his post last month after three years as police chief.
The only occasion that the issue was raised by the two governments was when the lone survivor of the heinous crime, Martin Kyere, who managed to escape death in the hands of the Gambian securities, finally made his way to Ghana, came out to ask what the government was doing about 44 of his hapless compatriots who perished in The Gambia.
DAP/GIK/APA