There was a new wave of optimism in many Ghanaians with a new President and a new Vice-President to head the affairs of the state. Vice-President Gertrude Mensah did not waste time hitting the ground running, determined to assist President Marfo meet the expectation of Ghanaians.
The President also did not waste time delegating several of his duties to his Vice President. As a result, she was always in the news. She chaired three Cabinet meetings in the first six months in office. Members of the cabinet were amazed at the quality of leadership she brought to the meetings. This delighted the President.
“I am glad I chose you to be my Vice-President. I could not have asked for a better Vice President. You have made my onerous job easier,” he told her one afternoon after she came to his office for a discussion.
Reflecting on how she became Vice-President of the country and how Ghanaians had fallen in love with her, Lt. Clottey wondered why anyone would want to assassinate her. He had no doubt that the nation would be brought down to its knees if this happens and he was the only person who could stop it from happening because he was the only person (apart from the plotters), who knew about the plot.
“So what do I do? Obviously, it is important that I get to her and alert her but how do I do that without raising any suspicion, especially as those who have plotted to assassinate her are said to be close to her?” Lt. Clottey asked himself.
After brooding over the issue for a while, he got up, got into a simple tennis shorts and a T-shirt and went to the living room. He switched on the television and tuned in to BlueSky TV to catch the first news bulletin of the day at six o’clock. As he expected, the major news item was the massacre at the James Town Police station. A reporter of the TV station was reporting live from the police station.
Images of the dead placed on stretchers and being carried to ambulances parked in front of the police station were on the screen. Images of where the bodies had been lying came next. There was blood all over the floor and on the walls.
“…in all twenty five people were killed. Eight of them were police personnel, one was a man yet to be identified and the remaining were all inmates of the cell. The police are yet to determine the motive for what is clearly a massacre” the reporter of the TV station said.
Lt. Clottey tuned in to other TV stations. They were all reporting the massacre at the James Town Police station. EXPRESS TV had additional news; that the police have also discovered two dead bodies at the Sakumono beach near Tema and two more at Sakumono itself. All the murdered persons had died from gunshots. The murders happened one night. The police said they were yet to determine if the murders at the beach and the one in a house as Sakumono is linked to the James Town police station massacre.
He tuned in to Rock TV. Images of the bodies of the two murdered at the beach appeared on the screen. There was a white cloth covering them. A motley crowd of about forty people stood a few metres away while three police officers stood closer to the bodies waiting for personnel of the Homicide unit of the police service to turn up.
“Wow! I cannot believe this. I bet the murders at the beach and at Sakumono were carried out by the same group that carried out the massacre at the police station’, the soldier said to himself.
“It’s bloody,” a voice behind him said. Lt. Clottey whirled around defensively to face the person.
It was his sister, Helen. She stared at him, surprised at his reaction. Lt. Clottey forced out a smile.
“Victor, what is it? Why are you so startled?” she asked. Lt. Clottey was relieved to find her sister coming into the hall; for a moment, he had thought the gang had followed him home even though the voice that had startled him was that of a woman.
“Helen, it is the news that is being reported that has shocked and unnerved me,” he said, sweating.
“It’s shocking! I was watching it in my room. I cannot believe some people can be so wicked. I could no longer stand the sight of blood everywhere in the police cells where they massacred the inmates so I left to do something else. The images have rattled me too”, she said.
Helen took a seat adjacent to his brother to continue watching the tragedy that had been reported at the TV stations. Brother and sister stayed glued to the TV for the next thirty minutes. Occasionally, Lt. Clottey, using the TV’s remote control, moved from one TV channel to another. It soon became obvious that all the TV stations were covering the massacre of the people at the police station. But again, the images, which viewers were warned were explicit, so shocked Helen that once more, after a while, she quit watching, getting up and heading for the kitchen.