Kofi Ansah: Welcome back my cherished listeners and viewers watching across all social media platforms. If you just tuned in you have missed a whole lot but you can get every detail of this very interview on our YouTube platform or our Facebook page which is streaming live. Please don’t forget to drop your comments and click on the share button so you share with you friends or family members who might not be free to tune in and listen to the jaw dropping and life changing interview going on. My special guest today is Captain Kwame Adjei and he is telling us his life story about how he narrowly escaped death inside the Nsawam Prisons. Captain so you were saying you tried to appeal for your sentence to be reduced or wipe away but rather it moved from bad to worse?

Captain Adjei: Yes my brother, everyone who followed the story genuinely from the beginning saw that I wasn’t treated well with my case and that was the more reason why I pleaded with my lawyer to appeal against the first judgement. When I was given the life sentence I was taken to the prison by one Sergeant Odoi and that man really assisted me when I was in police custody. Wherever that man soul is, may his gentle soul continue to rest in the arms of our Lord. That man was the only officer who openly threw his weight behind me but because he had no power to push me, he supported me in the little way he could. He bought food for me and made sure I never lacked whiles in police cell, he also pushed my lawyer to go for the appeal but we lost and then I was given a death sentence.

Kofi Ansah: So when you were given the life sentence how did the CDS, your wife and your family take the news.

Captain Adjei: I think my wife was the happiest lady on earth, I saw displeasure written all over the face of the CDS because to him his mantra was an eye for an eye so he wanted to hear a judgement of death been hammered on my head and my mom, hmmmmmmm she nearly got a heart attack in the courtroom.

Kofi Ansah: Now let us come to prison life, how was the place and what happened that you narrowly escaped death?

Captain Adjei: I will say prison life taught me a whole lot my brother because I got the chance to meet harden criminals who had committed great crimes and atrocities in this country. I met people who were there in the prison because of some good deeds or favours they did for people. I again met people who were there without proper trials and anyone to intervene on their behaves. When the prison wardens got to know I was a military officer, most of them treated me with respect even though a few of them acted cruel to me also. I was not joining long queues inside the prison to fetch water and neither did I join a queue to get my food or anything that was shared to us. I was given a cell where it was comfortable and less packed, I should say a VIP cell. Narrating my story to most of them made them feel bad for me but they had little to do. They only prayed for me to get pardon from the president one day as he has been granting presidential pardons to some prisoners before the independence day celebration.

Kofi Ansah: So whiles you were in prison did your wife ever visit you in there?

Captain Adjei: She never did but her father and two other brothers of her paid me some few visits.

Kofi Ansah: So you mean she never for once visited you and her mom also didn’t bother to visit you?

Captain Adjei: Precisely so my brother.

Kofi Ansah: So what discussion or issues did her dad and brothers talk to you about when the visited you?

Captain Adjei: Well we never spoke about anything apart from them motivating me and telling me to be strong in the Lord. They will always tell me God knows the reason why he allowed what happened to happen and that if this was how God had planned my life, I should do well to accept and embrace my fate like that but if also, that was not how my destiny was crafted by God, I will one day walk out from the prison gate a free man. Honestly sometimes I wanted to break their heads when they walk me through that motivation path because their ward led me to where I found myself at that particular time. Along the line I got myself to embrace my state at the prison because of the people I met in there, there was one Flight Lieutenant Kojo Lee whom I met there and we were most at times together talking about ourselves and the army. I remember one time he made a statement that if he knew he was one day going to be imprisoned, like when he flew a jet fighter plane pass the prison, he would have dropped missiles to destroy the place. That guy was a photocopy of former president Rawlings and he told me they use to be good friends so he had the hope that, one day his friend will come for him from the prison and I remember I equally pleaded with him to remember me when he got out of prison, our story looked like Joseph when he was thrown to prison and interpreted the dream of the officer who was in jail with him.

Kofi Ansah: Captain what brought that Flight Lieutenant Kojo Lee to the prison?

Captain Adjei: It was about some misunderstanding incident that happened inside Labadi beach and some lives were taken that day by him.

Kofi Ansah: I think I remember that story as I was in class four then and the year if am not wrong was 1982 or so.

Captain Adjei: You are right Kofi, the painful part is after some few days of having that conversation with him, he was executed.

Kofi Ansah: Which year was that and how was the execution done Captain?

Captain Adjei: It was in 1983 and by then the seating president who was President Busia had passed a law so even if you were sentenced to death by hanging, you will be sent to the firing squad.

Kofi Ansah: Ah so they had a firing squad inside the prison?

Captain Adjei: No my brother, after being in the condemn prison for sometime, I got the privilege to go around the condemn prison very well so I knew my way out. What the prison had was a temple or small church where your last church service or should I say burial service will be done for you before you are executed. There was an open space where the hanging exercise was carried out but after it was abolished, every execution was taken to the Teshie shooting range and that was where you faced the firing squad.

Kofi Ansah: So was it the prison officers who executed the prisoners or who?

Captain Adjei: The duty of the prison officers were to get the people who were due to be executed to the shooting range and the military would take it from there when they were brought out of the prison.

Kofi Ansah: So how did the prison officers select or choose the people for execution?

Captain Adjei: I don’t know how they did their selections but the prison officers came with a list of names and they call the names out for the people who were due for execution to avail themselves. If by chance your name is mentioned, you raise your hand up and you are called to come forward, then they take you out from your cell.

Kofi Ansah: So after you are taken out of your cell, they send you to the shooting range.

Captain Adjei: No when they bring you out from your cell, they take you to the chapel or small church then a burial service will be held for all the people whose names were were mentioned. There is a chaplain who is a prison officer so he leads the burial service through singing of hymns and dirge songs then after that, you are asked to say your last prayers and ask for forgiveness of sin after which the chaplain will say his last prayer for each individual before we are led out of the cell block into the bus that will convey us to the shooting range.

Kofi Ansah: So how long does the service last?

Captain Adjei: Kofi it takes about 30 to 45minutes at most before the service will be done, we are then escorted out of the cell block through the reception and then we are blindfolded before we are put in the bus straight to the shooting range in Teshie.

Kofi Ansah: So how long did it take before the first execution took place and how many people were taken at a go when you got to the prison?

Captain Adjei: Well when I was brought to the prison the first execution took place three weeks after I was brought there. We were asleep one dawn leading to a saturday morning when one of the guys called me to wake up. I woke up and asked him what the problem was and he told me the people are here. I asked which people and he said the operation people. I was like aaah but no one is sick here so what operation people are you talking about and he said the prison officers are in to take some people for execution. My brother I was a military man but the prison officers who came in for people due for execution were gaints and if he screams at you, you will urinate on yourself.

Kofi Ansah: Mmmm so how many people were taken from the cell that early morning?

Captain Adjei: For the first time they took eleven people and they were executed early Saturday morning. You know friday nights were solemn nights for us because we know the operation people usually come at the early hours of saturday morning. I remember Flight Lieutenant Kojo Lee was part of the first execution that took place when I was brought to the prison and his last words were Captain Adjei, it seems my luck has run out before my friend could do anything to save me but I leave you in the capable hands of the Lord till we meet again on the judgement day.

Kofi Ansah: So how do you guys in the prison get to know the inmates who were taken from the cell have been exectued finally?

Captain Adjei: In the cell we had the box radio which transmitted information from Ghana Broadcast Cooperation(GBC) directly, I hope you remember that brown wooden box radio with the long pole on it?

Kofi Ansah: Yes my grandfather had one and I was the only one allowed to carry it out of the house when my grandfather wanted to listen to GBC news.

Captain Adjei: Oh then you were very fortunate, coming back to my story, when the execution took place, during the midday news, we got the news that our colleague prisoners had been executed and that alone brought tears into our eyes knowing very well that we will be facing the same fate very soon.

Kofi Ansah: Woooow so after that when again did another operation that place?

Captain Adjei: The next operation came in two weeks time and they again came in for thirteen people and they also went through the same process as the first batch did. The month of July was a painful month for inmates in the condemn prison because a whole lot of executions do take place periodically.

Kofi Ansah: Ah what was so special in the month of July that you guys were being executed like that?

Captain Adjei: Well I don’t know how true what I heard in there but I heard some of the inmates who were due for execution were used for rituals. I remember one time they came for nineteen people for execution but when the news came out we were told it was only thirteen people who were executed.

Kofi Ansah: This is so interesting so the six people were either freed or they were used for the rituals as you rightly said? Who were using them (your colleague inmates) for rituals?

Captain Adjei: Well I don’t exactly know who were behind the alleged rituals but for those six guys only God knew what happened to them. Also when there are robbery incidents in town, the operation people come for more inmates and execute them just to send signals to the robbers that, when you are caught by the law, that was what was going to happen to you if you were slapped with a dead sentence.

Kofi Ansah: I don’t know if you by chance know the kind of crimes that its culprits were executed most often?

Captain Adjei: The crimes whose culprit were usually chosen for execution were armed robbers, ritualist and people who plotted or tried to overthrow the government through coup d’ètat. For murder cases they only came for such people when there happened to be public interest in that very case.

Kofi Ansah: Well if you just tuned in you have missed a lot of things but you can log on to any of our social media handles and you will get the whole story you have missed. I am taking another quick commercial break from my sponsors and when I am back, Captain Adjei will tell us how he escaped death inside the Nsawam Prisons. Don’t touch that dial, stick and stay for I will be right back.

To be continued………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………#Yeb3toaso

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