Preparing senior military officers for execution was a traumatic experience, Former Chaplain
Major General Utuka gave me a bag to hand over to his wife, Catholic Priest
“Take this wedding ring and pray for me that God will accept me just as l am.” These were the last words that came from the lips of a distraught General Kutu Acheampong in 1979.
These words, revealed by a former major and Catholic Chaplain of the Ghana Armed Forces, Rev Fr Col Matthias Kumesi, were said in the Roman Catholic Chapel at the Burma Villas in Burma Camp while the former head of state was waiting to be executed by firing squad, The Spectator reports.
According to Fr Kumesi when he asked the late General Acheampong if he should give the ring to his wife, the latter told him to keep it and pray for his soul as he was going to meet his Maker.
Rev Fr Col Matthias Kumesi, who was a Catholic priest at the time shared what he describes as a traumatic experience with The Spectator in an interview.
He said being asked to prepare General Acheampong and other senior military officers spiritually and entrust their souls to God before there were executed in 1979 was not an easy task.
“Imagine receiving such a chilling command by a telephone call at midnight which frantically rocks one to the marrow, disturbing one’s sleep and leaving one in a confused state of mind,” he said.
Father Kumesi who lived at Awudome at the time, had to quickly move to the chapel to wait for the officers.
Recounting how the senior soldiers were brought into the chapel, the former chaplain general said he requested their handcuffs be removed before they entered the chapel adding that some of them got confused and sat calmly.
“It is, indeed, tragic to walk to one’s death. We know that when struck with ailment, one has the hope to either survive by divine healing or by administering a potent medicine. But l tells you it is not easy,” he said.
He said aside the ring which was given to him by the late Acheampong, former Border Guard Commander, Maj Gen Edward Kwaku Utuka, another officer who was to be executed, also entrusted him with a bag to be given to his wife.
He added that Utuka’s wife broke down in tears after she was informed about her husband’s death but later had a request to make.
“When l carried the bag to Utuka’s wife and informed her that the husband had been executed, she broke down in tears and wept bitterly but later paused at a point and asked me to do her a favour by picking up her daughter from the Achimota School. At the school, l obtained permission from the authorities and came home with the daughter,” he said.
The Spectator adds that the Chaplain General was sad to note that the other officers could not give him any message for their families but he believed they were struck by shock.
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He also revealed that he faced the altar while he prayed for them as it was difficult for him to look at them in the face.
After the prayers, he calmed their nerves, assuring them that God was waiting to welcome them into His Kingdom.
