It has emerged that the 10 persons being tried for allegedly plotting to overthrow President Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party (NPP) government started their ‘nefarious’ activities as far back as 2018 when the government was only about two years in office, after winning the 2016 general election.
The official trial of the ‘coup plotters’ commenced yesterday at an Accra High Court where Colonel Isaac Amponsah, the Director in charge of Operational Intelligence at the Defence Intelligence Department of the Ghana Armed Forces was the first Prosecution Witness (PW1).
The accused persons include Dr. Frederick Yao Mac-Palm, proprietor of the Citadel Hospital at Alajo, Accra, who is suspected to be the mastermind; Donya Kafui aka Ezor, a local weapon manufacturer; Bright Allan Debrah Ofosu aka Bright Alan Yeboah or BB, Lance Corporal Ali Solomon, Lance Corporal Sylvester Akanpewon, Lance Corporal Seidu Abubakar and WO II Esther Saan Dekuwine aka Mama Gee.
The rest are Johannes Zikpi, a civilian employee with the Ghana Armed Forces, ACP Dr. Benjamin Agordzo of the Ghana Police Service and Col. Samuel Kojo Gameli.
PW1 Testimony
Led in evidence-in-chief by the Attorney General himself, Godfred Yeboah Dame, the witness (Col. Amponsah) told the court about the ‘chilling’ strategies of the accused persons, including how they intended to capture the President, the Vice President and some officials of government as part of their plan to overthrow government.
The witness also told the court about how the accused persons planned among other things, to take over some key military installations in the country, including artillery regiments and ammunition depots.
The court also heard how a military officer infiltrated the camp of the accused persons and successfully recorded their meetings both in video and audio forms.
‘Key Informant’
Col. Amponsah began by telling the court about how his boss – the Director-General of Defence Intelligence called him (witness) to brief him about how Staff Sgt. Esther Saan was approached by some people to recruit others for an operation to overthrow the government.
He said Corporal Awarf Sule who was the ‘informant’ had told the Director-General of Defence Intelligence that Dr. MacPalm, the supposed financier of the operation and Allan Debrah had already met some of the soldiers and the next meeting was scheduled for June 22, 2018.
Cpl. Awarf Sule was subsequently provided with a recording device and he began recording the meetings of the group and also used his phone to record voices for back-up.
The witness told the court that the group met again on June 22, 2018, and it was attended by Cop. Seidu Abubakar, Lance Corporal Ali Solomon, WO II Esther Saan, Lance Corporal Sylvester Akanpewon and there were some other soldiers who were also present at the meeting which was chaired by Bright Alan Debrah.
“What I observed was that Mr. Debrah tried to convince the soldiers about the need to overthrow the government. He started by telling them about corruption and cited the examples of SUBA and GEEDA alleged corruption scandals and indicated that when NPP was in opposition they made so much noise about it but since they took over power nobody has said anything about it again,” the witness said, adding, “He indicated that both NDC and NPP are the same. He indicated that what they are going to do is not for themselves but for their children, that they were lucky to be soldiers today but their children may not have that opportunity and that if nothing happens now things will be very difficult in Ghana.”
Coup Possibility
The witness went on to say that Alan Debrah stated at the meeting that “many people think it is not possible to overthrow a government because there are so many radio stations but on that day he will jam all the radio stations and all that you will hear is ‘shhhhh!’ A soldier wanted to find out about their security and he indicated that they will have insurance because what they were going to do was a life and death situation and all that will be sorted out when they meet the ‘big men’.”
Military Installation
Col. Amponsah told the court that some of the accused persons attended another meeting on July 7, 2019 where they discussed plans including what to do with the President once he was captured as well as some military installations that needed to be blocked in order for them to succeed with the plan.
Eliminate President
He said WO II Esther Saan, who was at the meeting, suggested that they needed to eliminate the President and Awarf responded that ‘yes, that is the work we are doing’
“Corporal Awarf also handed over a sketch plan to Mr. Alan Debrah. On the sketch they had certain key targets they intended to block on the D-day. These areas included the Base Ammunition Depot in Tema, Base Ordnance Depot in Accra, El Wak, the 66 Artillery Regiment in Ho, the Police Headquarters, the Police Training School in Tesano, the Air Force Base in Accra, Burma Camp, the Recce Regiment in Accra, the roads leading from Tema to Accra, from Kumasi to Accra, Takoradi to Accra and the Jubilee House,” the witness told the court.
Asked by the AG whether he got to know why the accused persons said they will block all these area, the witness told the court that “the Base Ammunition Depot (BAD) is where the Ghana Armed Forces keep their ammunitions. The Base Ordnance Depot is like a warehouse of the Ghana Armed Forces where new weapons and other military accoutrements are stored. They didn’t give the reasons for blocking the Police Headquarters, the Police Training School but the Air Force Base has all the aircrafts of the Ghana Armed Forces. Though there are a few aircrafts in Takoradi and Sunyani, the Air Force Base is the main aircraft base in the Ghana Airforce.”
GH¢50 MoMo Payment
Col. Amponsah told the court that after the said meeting, Alan Debrah sent GH¢50 each to Cpl. Awarf and WO II Esther Saan via Mobile Money.
“Before then, Esther had also requested some money for her boys so he told her that this 50, 50 is only for the ‘executives.’ Esther Saan kept on insisting that they needed to take care of the boys because they were putting their lives in danger so Mr. Debrah should carry the message to the ‘big men’”
BNI Infiltration
Col. Amponsah also told the court that the Bureau of National Investigations (now National Intelligence Bureau) were also informed about the activities of the accused persons so had the mandate to infiltrate ‘Take Action Ghana’, a movement created by Dr. MacPalm to mobilise “popular support” for their operation.
The witness told the court that after the July 9, 2018 meeting between WO II Esther Saan, Alan Debrah and Cpl. Awarf, they realised there was no other meeting with the soldiers because Dr. MacPalm had intended his initial plan to use the soldiers to achieve his aim.
“Another reason why he also suspended the military option was that he was finding it difficult to get the senior officers to lead the operation. Dr. MacPalm confided in the BNI operative that he had spoken to a few senior officers but they were afraid that at the level of their career if it comes out that they are involved in such an activity, it will affect their career,” the witness added.
Weapons Acquisition
He continued that Alan Debrah and Dr. MacPalm during of their meetings at the Citadel Hospital owned by the doctor talked about acquiring weapons.
“Cpl. Awarf proposed that they should get the weapons from Bawku at the cost of between 8,000 and 10,000. From the recorded video of the meeting, Dr. MacPalm was having difficulty getting the weapons for the operation. At a point he proposed to Cpl. Awarf if they could attack the Armed Forces ammunition section to get the ammunition room, but Awarf turned him down.”
On July 28, 2019, Dr. MacPalm invited Cpl. Awarf and Mr. Debrah to his house near Dodowa. This meeting was recorded in audio. At that meeting, Dr. MacPalm introduced Kafui as someone with expertise to manufacture weapons from the Volta Region.
He introduced the two to each other and said they were going to work together, the witness said, adding “They discussed the procurement of improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), which Dr. MacPalm described as bombs and locally made pistols. They negotiated for the payment of GH¢4,000 for 11 IEDs. Dr. MacPalm suggested that he will add some chemicals used in anaesthesia to the gun powder so that if the bomb explodes those who will inhale it will fall asleep.”
Weapons Shop
He said after the July 28, 2019 meeting, Dr. MacPalm converted his X-ray department into a weapon manufacturing workshop where Donya Kafui set up his weapon manufacturing equipment and started producing the bombs and the locally made pistols, adding that “the production from beginning to completion were all captured on video.”
“Then on the 6th of August 2019, Dr. MacPalm met Cpl. Awarf in the consulting room of his office. They discussed the payment for the soldiers who were going to undertake the operation. Both Allan Debrah and Dr. MacPalm assured Sgt. Awarf that when they get to Jubilee House money will not be an issue.”
Key Arrest
He said on Sept 19, 2019, at about 11pm, Cpl. Awarf, Alan Debrah and Dr. MacPalm went to Laboma beach to test fire the weapons and they were arrested by the Southern Command of the GAF after they fired the pistols.
He said the accused persons were later released in order not to compromise the ongoing surveillance into their activities of overthrowing the government.
Col. Amponsah said he briefed his boss the following morning about what had transpired the previous night and after consulting the Chief of the Defence Staff and the Director of BNI, it was agreed that the accused persons should be arrested before they hide the weapons that they had produced.
He said a joint team from Defence Intelligence and the BNI went to the Citadel Hospital in Alajo and arrested Dr. MacPalm.
He said they found five (5) locally manufactured weapons, 22 IEDs and then foreign made pistols with magazines, one revolver, three smoke grenades, and three locally made pistol barrels.
He said Donya Kafui and Allan Debrah were also arrested the same day.
Sitting continues today.
By Gibril Abdul Razak