Ghana’s revolutionary or military period is replete with stories of power abuse, wanton human rights abuse, corruption, and the exercise of indiscretion by errant members of the security agencies, particularly the police and armed forces.

One such story that reflects the extent of the abuse of power is the shooting of a relative of Jerry John Rawlings by an officer of the Airforce of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), who, according to the narration, had a habit of indiscriminately shooting at people.

The story is told by Corporal (retired) Matthew Adabuga, who was a key member of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), which morphed into the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and, subsequently the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

According to Corporal (retired) Adabuga, owing to Rawlings’s status as a member of the Airforce, officers of that branch of the Ghana Armed Forces became powerful under his reign.

He claimed that a number of the officers, with or without the knowledge of the AFRC leadership at the time, undertook heinous crimes, including murders.

He recounts that over 260 Ghanaians became victims of these excesses, and their remains are in mass graves dotted across Accra and other parts of the country.

Adabuga said that even a relative of Rawlings was not spared, as one Airforce officer, without knowledge of his affiliation with Rawlings, shot the person.

Adabuga claims that J.J. Rawlings was furious and instructed that the officer in question, whose name he gives as WOII Kingsley, be dealt with.

“The Airforce boys were reckless. One of them took it upon himself and started shooting people. He made a mistake and shot a relative of J.J. Rawlings. Rawlings asked me to go and shoot him. His name was WOII Kingsley, and Rawlings asked me to shoot him, but I protested. It was one Boakye of the Airforce who shot him,” he said.