The founder of the Defunct Repentance Church International, Apostle Ampofo Twumasi Ankrah on Wednesday alleged that his penis was electrocuted by men from the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) for attempting to answer a question put to him at a crusade whether Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings would go to heaven.

He told the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) that the incident occurred between September 28, 1991 and January 1993. He said he had earlier been arrested, molested, released, re-arrested, tried and imprisoned for two years between June 7, 1988 and September 28, 1991. Apostle Ankrah told the Commission that as a result of years of torture by men from the Sekondi and Takoradi Police Stations, Sekondi Prisons, James Fort Prisons and the BNI Headquarters in Accra his left kidney functions no more and he has difficulty urinating and is still seeking medical attention.

According to him, "My doctors at the Kaneshie Polyclinic have recommended that I should seek medical attention abroad to ensure a lasting solution to my problem but I do not have money to do so". In his story to the Commission, Apostle Ankrah said on June 6, 1988 he held a gospel crusade at the Takoradi Market Circle and preached against corruption and killings, which, according to him, were rampant in the nation at the time. He said in the course of the crusade someone asked: "Since Rawlings is on record as having killed Generals Acheampong, Akufo and Afrifa among others, would he go to heaven?"

Apostle Ankrah said he used King David as an example, and answered that if anybody committed a sin and repented he would be forgiven and allowed into heaven. Apostle Ankrah said in the course of the crusade a policeman came to the scene and inquired why Flt. Lt. Rawlings was the topic of discussion and he (Ankrah) explained the circumstance that led to his name coming up. He said the crowd hooted at the policeman and drove him away. However, he returned with three other policemen who asked whether he had a permit to organise the crusade. He said he answered in the negative with the explanation that he was not aware of any law which required a permit before one preached.

Apostle Ankrah said he was invited to the Sekondi Police Station the following day, June 7, 1988, and he went in the company of one Mr Akuamoah Boateng. He said both of them were detained with he being accused of preaching against Flt. Lt. Rawlings while Mr Boateng was alleged to be providing him with financial and logistical assistance to do so. He said "They told me that the people reported that I said Rawlings killed his predecessors for corruption and he came on the scene looking very skinny but had grown fat in a relatively shorter time than the people he killed".

Apostle Ankrah said on June 20, 1988 they were taken to Accra to meet the then IGP, Mr C. K. Dewornu who ordered the following day, June 21, 1988, that they must be handcuffed and sent to the BNI. At the BNI they were separated into two groups and put into cells. He said "The following day, June 22, 1988 the four others were set free but I

Was kept in the BNI cells and that was when my penis was electrocuted for at least five times as a form of torture to compel me to confess that I insulted Rawlings, but I refused to do so". He said during that period he was also sent to James Fort Prisons adding that a Prisons Officer nicknamed "American man" tortured him and he developed a waist problem and started seeking constant medical attention at the Police Hospital in Accra. Apostle Ankrah said after 14 months of torture between BNI and James Fort he was sent back to Sekondi Tribunal on January 2, 1989 and together with the four who were earlier released from BNI, was put before one Mr Justice Eric Nyahor.

They were tried between August 1989 and May 1990 and he was sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 cedis, whilst the four others were fined 20,000 cedis with no imprisonment terms. He said "My mother had to sell her cocoa farm to engage lawyers to assist me in my trial and in the end she had to use some of the money to pay the fine whilst I served the two-year imprisonment".

He said after spending 16 months in the Sekondi Prisons he was released. However, on reaching the gates of the prisons he met three armed policemen who put him in a white Nissan car and sent him to the BNI in Accra, where he spent an additional one year four months for reasons not known to him. Apostle Ankrah said when he was released from the BNI, the men from the BNI took him to his home at Madina and seized all the musical instruments and equipment he used for his church and his Datsun Violet saloon car, adding that since that time he has not seen nor heard of them.

He said "When I was arrested I told my wife I was going to be killed so she got married whilst I was away". The members of the Commission comforted Apostle Ankrah and asked him to forgive his persecutors. They also observed that the medical report covering his kidney failure was an old one issued by a hospital in Dakar, Senegal. The Commission therefore asked him to obtain a current report from any of the major government hospitals and submit it to the Commission.