By Gifty Amofa
Accra, Nov. 1. GNA – Warrant Officer Class Two Esther Saan Dekuwine (WOII), one of nine individuals accused of plotting to overthrow the government, has denied recruiting soldiers for the alleged plot.
She told the High Court that she did not recruit any soldiers for the plot.
WOII Esther, better known as “Mama G,” who was testifying in chief, also stated that she was not a member of Take Action Ghana (TAG), the group accused of the alleged plan.
Mama G, a cook in the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), claimed that her status as a military caterer barred her from accessing the armoury.
“I am totally innocent, I plead with the Court to discharge me,” she told the Court presided over by Justices Mrs Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe, Mrs Hafisata Amaleboba and Mr Stephen Oppong.
She said that despite introducing Staff Sergeant Sule Kwadwo Awarf, the prosecution’s star witness, to TAG, she did not recruit any soldiers.
Ms Hilda Craig of the Attorney General’s Department asked her during cross-examination if, aside from her duties as a soldier, she also ran a bar at the barracks, and she said yes but quickly added that it was run by someone else.
“Because of that bar, you are popular among the soldiers,” Ms Craig inquired, and WOII Dekuwine admitted as much, explaining that she cooked for them as well as followed them when they went for operations.
The prosecution stated that after being taken to the guard room following her arrest, she was transferred to the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) and interrogated, to which she agreed.
According to the prosecution, if that was the case, Major General Andoh, another prosecution witness, could not have forced her to admit knowing Dr Mac-Palm, as she had told the Court.
The Prosecutor challenged the claim that WOII Dekuwine went to Dr Mac-Palm for medical attention when soldiers were entitled to free medical and specialist treatment, but she persisted that she met Dr Mac-Palm for that reason.
The prosecution was certain that the meeting Yeboah and Sule attended was to discuss the conspiracy, and that Sule reported her to their superiors because of that meeting, but WOII Dekuwine denied it.
“You told the Court that Yeboah told you about Mac-Palm’s ambition, and you told him you could not help due to your work, that is why you introduced Sule, a soldier like you,” Ms Craig inquired, and WOII Dekuwine said that she introduced him because he is a man.
Ms Craig again put it to WOII Dekuwine that the use of “aggressive campaign,” was to bring down the government, but she disagreed.
The prosecution insisted that, in addition to the three meetings admittedly attended by WOII Dekuwine, she also attended others, including one on July 8, 2018, during which she stated that the President should be eliminated, but the accused insisted that she never said that and was not present at the meeting.
“You conspired with Mac-Palm, Kafui, Yeboah, Johannes Zikpi, Seidu, Solomon and Akankpewon to overthrow government,” Ms Craig said but WOII Dekuwine said it was not true.
Mr Victor Kwadjoga Adawudu asked WOII Dekuwine if she knew Donya Kafui, had any contact with Corporal Seidu Abubakar, or knew Lance Airforce Corporal Ali Solomon and Corporal Sylvester Akankpewon, his clients, before her detention, and she said no.
WOII Dekuwine had previously stated that she worked as a caterer for the GAF.
“I was arrested on September 21, 2019, on the charges levelled against me, Major General Andoh kept threatening me to admit that I knew late Mac-Palm and the offence, nothing incriminatory was found on me.
“I got to know Bright Alan Debrah Ofosu Yeboah through my husband and he later introduced me to late Dr Frederick Yao Mac-Palm, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Citadel Hospital on medical purpose,” she said.
WOII Dekuwine stated that when Yeboah informed her that Dr. Mac-Palm was in town, she visited him and sought help in treating post-caesarean section.
“He tasked Yeboah to send me to his clinic and asked whether I could help mobilize support for his political ambition, but I told him my work and being a nursing mother would not allow me.”
WOII Dekuwine admitted to attending meetings organized by Yeboah, adding that it was on their third meeting that they realized an aggressive action was needed to achieve Dr Mac-Palm’s Presidential ambition.
“So, when I was invited to the next meeting by staff Sergeant Sule Kwadwo Awarf, I told him I would not be able to attend, he was disappointed.”
“I did not recruit any soldiers and I am not on any social media called Take Action Ghana,” she said.
WOII Dekuwine is standing trial with Kafui, Yeboah, Zikpi, Colonel Samuel Kojo Gameli, Solomon, Seidu, Akankpewon and Assistant Commissioner of Police Dr Benjamin Agordzo.
She has been accused of conspiring with some of the TAG members and recruiting other soldiers to that effect.
GNA