MURDERED JUDGES AT US CONGRESS

In last Tuesday's edition (August 29-September 4, 2000) of The African-American Observer (formerly The African Observer) is an "Open Letter To The Black Congressional Caucus".

The open letter is in the form of a full-page advertisement and signed by Mr. Kwabena Agyepong, son of one of the three murdered high court judges and retired army officer. The Accra Mail has obtained a copy and for its public interest value, we present it in full.

"My name is Kwabena Agyepong and I am from the West African nation of Ghana. I am the son of the late K.A. Agyepong, one of the three High Court Judges who together with Major (Rtd) Acquah, were abducted from their homes in Accra the evening of June 30th 1982, and brutally murdered by agents of the PNDC military junta headed by then Chairman Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings.

The killings provoked a national out-pouring of public anger and revulsion, which led albeit reluctantly on the part of Rawlings to set up a Special Investigation Board (SIB) to investigate the killings. The SIB's report and recommendations far from solving the mystery left many fundamental questions unanswered. Not only was the inquiry incomplete but that there was every indication of a massive cover-up, leaving the real culprits beyond the arm of justice.

Over the last eighteen months, I have held five press conferences calling on the government of Ghana to re-open the inquiry along the lines of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It is significant to note that key members of the PNDC regime, Brig-Gen. J. Nunoo-Mensah, former Chief of Defense Staff, Sgt. Alolga Akata Pore now in exile in UK and Mr. Johnny Hansen, then Interior Minister, have all endorsed my call for the establishment of a Truth Commission to go to the bottom of the matter.

Prominent among the many reasons why I believe the case should be re-opened include:

* The failure of the Special Investigations Board to further explore the fact that the murder vehicle, a Fiat Compagnola Jeep, filled with petrol and ready for the operation, was parked at the residence of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and the keys to the vehicle were picked from the dining table of the Rawlingses. On completion of the operation, Joachim Amartey Kwei a member of the PNDC briefed the Chairman of the PNDC, J.J. Rawlings on the outcome. A secret meeting was held at a house in Tesano, a suburb of Accra, between the chairman of the SIB, Justice Azu Crabbe, Chairman of the PNDC Jerry Rawlings and two others. This may explain why the board of inquiry failed to run down the many direct pieces of evidence connecting the first couple to the killings.

* The startling confession made by Amartey Kwei in the Ussher Fort Prison Chapel; on the eve of his execution, repudiating his earlier evidence before the SIB, whilst naming the first couple as those who instigated the murders.

I have written this letter to you so that you will know the real character of the man some of you eagerly trumpet as a statesman and a model democrat. Rawlings is no different from General Abacha of Nigeria, Pinochet of Chile, Mobutu of Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo, and "Baby Doc" Duvalier of Haiti.

I believe you will appreciate the deep disquiet many Ghanaians feel at the apparent favor Jerry Rawlings enjoys with American officialdom, especially the Black Caucus in the American Congress, a favor that is at total variance with his human rights record (more than 700 extra judicial killings and disappearances during the PNDC era) and the United States' vowed commitment to the respect for human rights, rule of law and the entrenchment of democracy worldwide.

The Christianborg Castle where he entertains some of your members who make frequent visits to Accra sits atop colonial dungeons where our colonial master tortured your forefathers. Rawlings still uses the dungeons as torture chambers where he silences innocent Ghanaians. Jerry Rawlings is a far cry from the picture he portrays to the outside world.

I believe it is the moral duty of the Black Caucus to use the considerable influence you wield to ensure the re-opening of the inquiry which I hope will establish the full TRUTH of the circumstances leading to the abduction and murder of my father, his two other colleagues on the bench and the retired army officer, and thereby finally lay this sad episode to rest.