Issah Alhassan
1 July 2009
Kumasi — GHANA CAME under the serious wrath of God Almighty, as He sat on his mighty throne in Heaven on the 30th of June, 1982, the day three High Court Judges, plus an army officer were murdered in cold blood, the Bishop of Kumasi Diocese and Presiding Bishop Elect, Methodist Church of Ghana, Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Kwaku Asante has noted.
According to Rt. Rev. Asante, by obstructing the system of justice and tinkering with the work of the three judges who were carrying out their legitimate duties, the perpetrators of the heinous crime committed grievous sin in the eyes of God Almighty, and brought the nation under the scourge of God. "Justice comes from the Bible and Judges are God chosen ambassadors of the earth, so if you kill a judge because he or she carried out a legitimate duty of bringing justice to whom justice is due, you have touched the eye of God," he observed.
Delivering a sermon at the 27th Anniversary Remembrance Service for the three murdered honourable justices of the High Court of Justice at the Wesley Methodist Cathedral in Kumasi, the Presiding Bishop elect quoted from the fifth Book of Prophet Moses, the Deuteronomy 16: 18-20 which states that "Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, through out thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shall not respect persons, neither take a gift, for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.
That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." Rev.Asante noted that there was the need for all good loving people in the country to condemn the dastard act and make sure it never happened again in the country's political journey. June 30th 1982 continues to remain a dark spot in the nation's political history and a nightmare for all judges in the country, after three High Court Judges namely Mr. Justice Fred Poku Sarkodie, Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng- Addow and Mr. Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyapong and a retired army officer, Major Sam Acquah were callously murdered under strange circumstances at the Bundase Military Range in the Accra Plains, after being abducted on the night of the said day by their assailants.
Even though the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), the military junta at the time publicly declared their innocence of the criminal act and yielded to public pressure for an investigations to be conducted into the matter, after which some active and retired army officers were prosecuted, tongues continue to wag over the alleged role some top ranking officers of the PNDC regime played in the heinous act.
The Presiding Bishop stressed that being the carriers of justice under the rule of law; judges play an integral role in the building of a nation, adding that any form of action that interfere with the smooth delivery of justice must be denounced by every peace loving Ghanaian.
The Martyrs Day Memorial Service was instituted twenty seven years ago by the Ghana Bar Association to commemorate the murder of the three High Court judges and to espouse their virtues of firm and justice. Prayers and hymns were said for the departed souls of the three judges in the two hour memorial church service.
Amongst the various high ranking personalities who attended the solemn occasion included the Chief Justice, Mrs. Georgina Theodora Woode, the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Barton Oduro, the Chairman of the National Media Commission, Mr. Paul Adu Gyamfi ,acting President of the Ghana Bar Association, Mr. S. Kwami Tetteh and other members of the Bar, including Members of Parliament.
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