Archive | February, 2012

She wore an intricately woven blue dress, fresh black high-heels with  a matching scarf tied to keep her long braids away from her face. She was careful not to muss her outfit and avoided the shallow puddles as she walked through Accra-Central police station’s rain dampened courtyard. Her wardrobe was no accident as she had been rehearsing this day for months. She inspected the line-up of men against the wall then stopped. Her arm raised, hand trembled slightly and finally came to rest on one of their shoulders.

“How do you know this man?” asked the police officer in charge.

“He is the one who attacked me,” she said. Her eyes now fixed on a face she had perhaps seen in dreams nearly every night since.

The young man refused to meet her stare. He was smaller than the other suspects, barefoot and marked with with a diagonal scar across his nose. He was the sixth in a row of ten. Each man chained by their wrist to the one next to them with the entire group flanked by officers holding clubs and well-worn AK-47s

“Do you know her?” The officer asked.

“Daabi,” replied Scar, choosing to answer in Twi a question he was asked in English.

“No? You don’t remember me? Liar, you came in the house where my children sleep and you raped me.” Her voice raised but didn’t crack as her hand remained firm on his shoulder.

Scar muttered something inaudible and hung his head toward the dirt between his toes.

An officer marked the accused man’s number down on a form affixed to a clipboard and handed it to her. She took it in her right hand and kept her left in place. After a few moments tension she let go, signed her name and walked away.
The woman in blue was the first to identify him and there would be more. In total, seven people, three women and four men, accused Scar of perpetrating acts of violence against them. The men he remembered and admitted to robbery at gun point. When the women approached he stared at the ground and offered monosyllabic denials. When the procession ended, victims disappeared into the crowd while Scar and the others were hustled back to their cell.

“We understand it’s not the best way to do this but we don’t have the means for more complicated options,” said police spokesperson K.W. Kuffour. “The victims are kept safe when they come to identify their attackers.” However, no system is perfect and police admit safety is never guaranteed.

In the west, there is a barrier. A one-way mirror separating the accuser and the accused. The suspects are marched into a dark room with bright lights shining in their eyes. They stand against a wall and wait. They wait for the someone they can’t see to identify them, or to be set free. The process is cold, anonymous and institutionalized. In Ghana, this is not the case. The ritual puts victim and alleged assailant face to face. Close enough to hear the other’s breath and remember the last time they met. This method presents critical concerns and unique opportunities. The victims become vulnerable once outside secure police compounds, yet many describe the experience as empowering. “I knew he’d be there and I had to be there to,” said the woman in blue. “He knows my house, but I’m not afraid anymore.”

Scar was in custody on charges unrelated to the crimes he was identified for in the queue. Police caught him after he snatched a man’s cell phone in the Nima district of Accra. Nearly all of his line-mates were arrested on similar offenses. Every few months, district police stations advertise an upcoming public identification and empty the cells of petty offenders. The event attracts a large crowd of on-lookers, accomplices, victims and family members on both sides of the law. Suspects are chained together and organized in single file. One-by-one victims walk the line and search for the person they say violated them. The resultant verbal confrontations are explosive and armed officers watch closely to ensure hold this demonstrative form of justice doesn’t boil over. The spectacle itself is known as an “identification parade” and it nearly always ends in a circus.

The Accra Sports Stadium erupted early Sunday morning when Braimah Kamoko marched to the ring with a sewing machine and loaf of bread on his head.

The main event capped a night filled with controversial matches and the outcome sparked anger, doubt and confusion amongst fans and officials at ringside.

The under-card included two WBO continental championship matches. However, the focus of the evening was fixed on the WBO Africa light heavyweight clash between Ugandan challenger Hamza Wandera and the Ghanaian champion affectionately known as Bukom Banku.

Both boxers entered the ring in grand fashion and from the opening bell the Ugandan showed he came to fight. In the first round, Wandera was often the aggressor landing a barrage of heavy punches to the head and body of Kamoko. This attack climaxed when a left hook met its mark and sent Kamoko to the canvas.
However, the champion was quick to get back on his feet and after a standing eight count went on the offensive. Kamoko bullied Wandera around the ring and landed several heavy punches. Wandera retreated but the Ghanaian champ forced him into a corner. The round ended with the fighters wrestling for position and Wandera accusing Kamoko of illegal tactics.

The second round opened with Kamoko on the attack. He met the Ugandan in the canter of the ring, landed combinations and wrangled the challenger into the corner. In the third round it was clear Kamoko had taken control. The pair traded blows but most exchanges ended in a clinch. The two men locked arms and the referee forced them to break. Wandera complained Kamoko was fouling him in close and said a cut over his left eye was the result of a head-butt. Referee Roger Barnor asked him if he wished to continue, he agreed and was instructed to fight on.

At this point, Wandera turned his back, perhaps to address his corner. One of the primary rules of boxing is protect yourself at all times, and Kamoko took full advantage of the situation. He approached and struck the Ugandan with an illegal blow to the back of the head.

The referee intervened and deducted a point from the Ghanaian. When instructed to fight on, again, the Ugandan turned his back to the champion. This time the referee was there before any blows could be delivered. When asked if he wished to continue the Ugandan fighter was unresponsive to the ref and yelling to his corner. After a brief exchange between Barnor, the challenger’s corner and World Boxing Organization (WBO) Vice-president Andrew Smale, the ref signaled an end to the fight. The official decision retained the champion’s title and awarded Kamoko a TKO by forfeiture. However, the outcome left many questions unanswered.

In a post-fight interview, the Ugandan said he received unfair treatment from the referee and, “if he (Kamoko) wants to fight again with different refs, I’ll show him what boxing is.”

Kamoko was less receptive to the idea of a rematch, “he quit. I think he is scared of me. I hurt him, he won’t want to fight again.” Kamoko also demanded a shot at the WBO”s light-heavyweight world champion, Nathan Cleverly.

WBO Vice-President Andrew Smale was not convinced Kamoko would be next in line to face Cleverly, “He (Kamoko) won, but he didn’t win in championship form. Cleverly’s camp has been ducking the fight for a while, and tonight didn’t give them any reason to change that position,” he said. Smale also stated he was disappointed in the quality of officiating at the event dubbed Moment of Truth by promoters. “Their is a master score card. I keep track, and some people are going to have to justify the way they called the fights. At the end of this there may be some people who are no longer permitted to work WBO sanctioned events,” he said.

In earlier bouts, Joshua Okine defeated Argentina’s Amilcar Funes – a result many at ringside jeered. Also, Samuel Amoako was awarded a controversial win over Namibia’s Martin Hikali for the WBO Africa lightweight title. Eben Lamptey was battered over 12 rounds, but managed a unanimous decision over Eduardo Flores of Ecuador to win the WBO African welterweight title.

It should be noted, all but one of the presiding referees and officials, as well as, every victorious fighter was of Ghanaian descent. In fact, referee for the main event, Roger Barnor, is the next door neighbor of champion Kamoko.