Liberia History & Information

March 28, 2003

Stanley Mcgill
Accra, Ghana

A Ghanaian professor has called democratic African leaders to be bold in condemning dictatorial Governments if the global issues of good governance, rule of law and respect for human rights are to be achieved.

Professor Kwame Karikari, a Senior lecturer at the School of Communications Studies, University of Ghana, made this call recently in Accra, where a cross section of African journalists met with specialized Ghanaian Doctors at a ceremony to discuss “Torture and Rehabilitating Torture Victims.”

The the Ghanaian professor observed that many African leaders who campaign for democracy to thrive on the Continent, themselves, hail and embrace undemocratic leaders, making them to believe that their governance is acceptable.

He did not make specific reference, but he pointed out that torture has been a method used by some governments to suppress their people.

Earlier, the President of the African Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters, Dr. Edmund Delle, said the right to live to express oneself freely, to live a meaningful life and help others to do so underlie every honorable human endeavor.

He therefore urged African Governments to ensure that torture victims have access to physical and psychological treatment and services appropriate to individual needs.

Dr. Delle observed that some torture victims hardly carry any physical scars by which one can detect and confirm that they had been tortured.

He said since the beginning of the struggle for independence by African countries, the African political scene has been characterized by wars, conflicts and civil strife, exposing innocent people to all forms of tortures. “This has resulted into various degrees of instability throughout the continent” he noted.

He also said political turbulence on the Continent has affected almost every Country in the sub-region, resulting in military coups and counter-coups and several changes of Governments.

He observed that some of the victims who have been subjected to physical beatings and long period of confinement, sometimes in total darkness and with little food, need to be properly rehabilitated.

Dr. Delle said in view of the, treatment given to the individual tortured victim should be holistic.

Dr. Delle and a group of Ghanaian Doctors provided medical treatment to journalist Throble Suah after he was flogged last year by five officers believed to be of the Anti Terrorist Unit ( ATU ).

The treatment of the journalist Suah was made possible by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA ), headed by Professor Kwame Karikari.

Journalist Suah is presently responding to treatment in Accra, but is still walking with cane.