Kwabena Agyapong recounts father's murder, calls for judicial independence

Kwabena Agyei Agyapong is a former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 Source: www.ghanaweb.com

A former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, has vividly recounted the harrowing night 43 years ago when his father, Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyapong, was abducted and brutally killed alongside Justices Cecilia Koranteng-Addow and Frederick Poku Sarkodee.

Speaking to The1957News after a wreath-laying ceremony at the Supreme Court today, Monday, June 30, 2025, he described the events of June 30, 1982, as a traumatic experience that remains indelibly etched in his memory.

“I was a young 20-year-old having dinner with my dad at the dinner table around 9 o'clock p.m. In those days, there was a curfew when he was called out. We were not to know that he was being kidnapped and he was just being called to attend to a fellow judge, Cecilia Koranteng-Addow who was thought to be unwell. He never came back,” he recalled.

Agyapong called for the day to be observed as one of sober reflection, urging Ghanaians to forgive but never forget, and emphasising the critical importance of protecting the integrity and independence of the judiciary.

“We can't forget, but we should forgive, work together as countrymen, and we should learn lessons from some of these things and make sure that those who deliver justice are not exposed to these dangers,” he stated.

Referencing the recent removal of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, he warned that such actions pose a grave threat to the independence of the judiciary.

“One leg of democracy has been exposed to unnecessary danger,” he stated.

He implored all Ghanaians, from the President to everyday citizens, to use this anniversary as a moment for sober reflection, fostering national unity, and recommitting to safeguarding the rule of law.

“This cyclical retribution does not help. It has to end somewhere so that we can build on our development as a people,” he urged.

AS/VPO

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