A key figure in the defunct Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC),Sergeant Daniel Alolga Akata-Pore (rtd), is pleading for forgiveness for autrocities committed during the 1981 coup in Ghana.
Akata-Pore also wants former President Jerry John Rawlings, leader of the revolution, to join forces with with him to ask the nation to pardon them.
The retired military officer regrets his actions following the 1981 coup which was led by the then Ft. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, a junior officer of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).
Former President Rawlings, has however been silent on the matter for years.
The two fell out in the 1980s after the bloody coup and its aftermath that left many Ghanaians scared from atrocities of indiscipline military officers.
Akata-Pore fled to London after the June 19, 1983 abortive coup. He has since been in exile 36 years after his narrow escape from jail.
He expressed regret after viewing the Joy News ‘Scars of the Revolution’ documentary.
The documentary chronicles events of the 1979 and 1981 coups, both orchestrated by Mr Rawlings. Several military officers including generals and former heads of state were executed on the orders of the PNDC, in some cases without trial.
Its spill-over resulted in chaos and disorder with various accounts of torture and inhumane treatment meted out to Ghanaians.
Sergeant Akata-Pore (rtd), in an interview with Daniel Dadzie on the AM Show on Joy News, said: “The point is, Jerry Rawlings is key to this, he has to deliver a proper apology to all the victims and to the nation then we can begin to heal”.
“I am very sorry for our part in it because at the end of the day we achieved nothing substantial for the nation,” he added.
Akata-Pore added that the documentary has brought back sad memories stating that: “It is clear that this won’t go away until the victims come to terms with it”.
He believes the objective of the revolution was not achieved and highlighted the importance of reaching out to affected families to help deal with the hurts.
“I wrote to Jerry Rawlings a long time ago suggesting to set up an NGO. I offered to come and help run that NGO which will assist. I wasn’t even thinking about the wider victims, I was thinking about the soldiers that have been affected in the process,” Mr Akata-Pore, now in exile in the UK, stated.
