body-container-line-1
01.07.2014 Special Report

3 Murdered Judges Remembered

By Daily Guide
3 Murdered Judges Remembered
01.07.2014 LISTEN

Rt. Rev. Titus Awotwi Pratt (3rd left), Chief Justice Georgina Wood, Marietta Brew-Oppong and Nene Amegatcher among others

In what can be described as a rare occurrence, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government yesterday delegated Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, to attend this year's remembrance service for the three murdered High Court Judges.

The NDC, which is an off-shoot of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) the regime under which the three judges and a retired military officer were gruesomely murdered, has been boycotting the event since it was instituted.

It may be recalled that in 2010 when the NDC government attempted to participate in the ceremony for the first time, the ghosts of the three High Court judges and the retired Army Officer appeared to be haunting them when Ebo Barton-Odro, then Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, mounted the pulpit to read the second scripture on behalf of Betty Mould-Iddrisu, his boss, who was absent from the programme.  He kept fumbling with words and continuously repeated what he had already read.

Apparently frustrated by his own faux-pas, the Minister at a point abandoned the Bible he was reading from, walked to his seat – which was directly opposite the pulpit – and brought his personal Bible to continue the reading, to the amazement of the congregation.

Though nothing of sorts occurred at the 32 nd anniversary yesterday, it was shocking the substantive Minister herself attended the event.

Flashback
Thirty-two years ago – on June 30, 1982 – three High Court judges: Justice Fred Poku Sarkodee, Justice Cecilia Afran Koranteng-Addow and Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong as well as a retired Army Officer, Major Sam Acquah, were abducted in the night when a curfew had been imposed on the entire nation by the PNDC administration.

Their bodies were found on July 1, 1982, in a state of decomposition at the Bundase Military Range in the Accra Plains.

Their bodies had been doused with petrol and set on fire, but by divine intervention, raindrops that night quenched the fire, making the partly charred bodies somewhat recognizable.

The PNDC, led by Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings, publicly expressing horror at the crime, and yielding to strong public pressure, set up a Special Investigations Board (SIB) with a former Chief Justice of Ghana, Justice Samuel Azu Crabbe, as chairman, to investigate the murders.

The professional expertise of the main investigator, J.J. Yidana, an officer of the Ghana Police Service, was remarkable as far as getting to the root of the crime was concerned. The SIB submitted its report and was published along with a Government White Paper.

The SIB made a number of findings, leading to the prosecution of Joachim Amartey Kwei, a member of the PNDC; L/Cpls Samuel Amedeka, Samuel Michael Senyah, Johnny Dzandu and Tekpor.

For the past 32 years, the Ghana Bar and the Bench have been mourning 'the martyrs of the rule of law.'

Sermon
In a sermon delivered by Right Rev. Titus K. Awotwi Pratt, Bishop of the Accra Diocese of the Methodist Church Ghana yesterday, he urged public servants to put the interest of the country above their parochial interest.

He stated that it was about time the nation put a stop to the discussion of what he described as 'pettiness' in the media.

Nene A.O. Amegatcher, National President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), said in view of the strides made towards the advancement of democracy in the country, threats to the rule of law are real.

He said unresolved killing of innocent Ghanaians, appalling rate of maternal deaths and shortage of basic medical supplies at the country's healthcare facilities, are worrisome.

Cover Of Darkness
Nene Amegatcher added, 'The cowardly and wanton show of power was perpetrated under the cover of darkness; remember, the three justices we are celebrating were abducted at night and brutally murdered under the cover of darkness.'

 Email: [email protected]

 By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson

body-container-line