Tsatsu Tsikata Reacts To The Killing Of Judges In 1982

Legal titan and former boss of the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), Tsatsu Tsika , has described assertions that he had knowledge of the killing of the three judges in 1982 as false.

He said such claims are malicious and intended to soil his earned reputation.

'It is an outrageous claim. Completely outrageous!', he lamented.

On June 30, 1982, three High Court judges , Justice Cecelia Koranteng Addo, Kwadwo Adjei Agyepong, Poku Sarkodie and a retired army officer, Major Sam Acquah were abducted within curfew hours, shot and burnt by ruthless, lawless men including young soldiers over claims they were corrupt.

Tsikata said: "From the bottom of my heart, I had nothing to do with the murder of the judges'.

Pleading his innocence, he continued by saying, "The day that I heard that judges had been abducted, I was actually in court in Ho. I had left Acrra in the morning. I had driven to Ho oblivious of the murder of the judges. There was a case I was doing for some farmers in Ho, as I was entering the town I didn't know where the court was so I saw a lawyer as he was then and I wanted to ask him for direction to the court".

"That is Lawyer Dotse as he was then. I knew him because he was my student at Legon. So he asked me about the murder of the judges. I was completely dumbfounded. I hope Justice Jones Dotse will not mind my making this public,' Tsatsu explained.

A recent documentary on the killings by Accra based radio station Joy FM titled "Who Killed the Judges?" has regenerated a conversation around the issue.

The Head of State at that time, President Rawlings, in a forum in Kumasi last week denied his involvement in the killings.

The murder shook the nation prompting the arrest of some of the suspects who were tried and found guilty. Joachim Amartey Kwei, Lance Corporal Samuel Michael Senyah, ex-soldier Johnny Dzandu, Tony Tekpor, Lance Corporal Gordon Kwowu, Lance Corporal Mama Nsurowua, Lance Corporal Victor Gomeleshio, Sergeant Daniel Alolga Akata Pore were all named.

The judges had adjudicated high profile cases involving the then military government and had freed suspects who were brought before them. They were abducted and murdered ostensibly because they were deemed to be bias and corrupt.