I’ll drop a bombshell over murdered judges soon - Rawlings

Former President Jerry John Rawlings has promised to drop a ‘bombshell’ very soon about the ongoing documentary by Multimedia News Channel, Joy News, on the killing of the three High Court judges and a retired army officer in the heat of the revolution.

He said at the Accra Digital Centre where he attended a United Nations Youth Summit yesterday that he would attend another public lecture at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (NKUST) in Kumasi in the coming days and take the opportunity to put issues into perspective.

Rawlings appears to be at loss as to the motive of those who put together the documentary on the incident which occurred several years ago.

“I’ll release a bombshell at UST during a public lecture”, he added.

In recent times, Joy News and The Multimedia Group have been broadcasting a comprehensive documentary on the killing of three judges and a retired army officer in 1982 when the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) military junta, led by then young Flt. Lt. Rawlings, seized power from the democratically elected government of Dr. Hilla Limann.

The documentary is pushing that the prime suspect, Joachim Amartey Kwei, could not have committed the crime without the backing of the authorities in the PNDC.

According to the documentary, the dreaded Captain Kojo Tsikata agreed that Amartey Kwei ought to have obtained the pass from a higher authority before having unrestricted movement on that fateful night when there was curfew.

The documentary revealed Amartey Kwei mentioned the names of the authorities with whom he planned and killed the judges to the extent that he was on hunger strike before Dr Koranteng of Police Hospital pacified him.

The dastardly act remains a dark spot in the nation’s political history after the three High Court Judges namely, Justice Fred Poku Sarkodie, Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng- Addow and Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyapong, as well as a retired army officer, Major Sam Acquah, were callously murdered under strange circumstances at the Bundase Military Range in the Accra Plains.

Their bodies were found on 3rd July, 1982.

According to the records, all the three judges had adjudicated on cases in which they ordered the release of persons who had been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment during the tenure of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) in 1979.

Investigations were conducted into the matter, after which some active and retired army officers were prosecuted, but there is still the belief that the real people who gave the order for these judges to be killed have been left off the hook.

Special Investigative Board (SIB), chaired by Samuel Azu Crabbe, recommended the prosecution of 10 persons.



Two of them, Joachim Amartey Kwei and Alolga Akata-Pore, were members of the PNDC.

Names like Captain (Rtd) Kojo Tsikata, Sergeant Alolga Akata-Pore, J. Amartey Kwei and Lance Corporal S.K. Amedeka, Michael Senyah, Gordon Nsurowuo, Gowu, Ransford Jonny Dzandu, Gomeleshio and Evans Tekpor, alias Tonny, have always come up for scrutiny as far as the case is concerned.

Even though Amartey Kwei, Tekpor, Senya and Dzandu were executed, Amedeka escaped from jail.