The Presidential Spokesman and Minister of State in charge of Government Communications, Mr. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has denied any connection between the government and the June 30, 1982, murders of three High Court Justices.
He stated that it was most dishonest to try to connect the current petitions for Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo’s dismissal to the horrific 1982 murders of three High Court judges and a military officer.
In June 1982, three judges from the Ghanaian High Court were killed. Together with a former army officer, Major Rtd Sam Acquah, Justices Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong, Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, and Fred Poku Sarkodee were kidnapped and murdered.
During a nighttime curfew, the killings occurred at the Bundase Military Shooting Range.
The killings took place under Jerry Rawlings, the NDC’s founder, during the second phase of military control.
In reaction to a previous press conference by the suspended Chief Justice, Mr. Ofosu reaffirmed that neither the Government nor President Mahama were involved in the murder of any judge during a press conference held at the Presidency in Accra on Wednesday.
The petitions that had been filed had nothing whatever to do with that regrettable event in the country’s history, according to the presidential spokesperson.
“So, any effort to link the two is regrettable and should not find space in this sort of discourse. It is the most undesirable thing. It is most unacceptable,” the Minister said.
Claims that there was a political plot to depose the Chief Justice were also denied by Mr. Felix Kwakye Ofosu.
He claimed that the Chief Justice herself coincidentally administered the oath to which the President took.
The President pledged to uphold the 1992 Constitution in that oath, he said.
When President Mahama got petitions of the type he did, he was instructed to behave in a specific manner, Mr. Ofosu said, adding that was all the President had done.
“And therefore, if petitions have come, he will fail to act. If he did that, he himself would be in breach of the Constitution.”
“We cannot have a sacred cow mentality in the way that we handle state affairs,” he said.
“Every single public official from the President to the Speaker, to the Chief Justice, to Supreme Court Judges, to Ministers, to all public office holders are bound by the provisions of Ghanaian law.
“Indeed, it was the former Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rath, who once said that ‘when you join the game, you play by the rules’.”
Mr. Ofosu stated that as a result, the President was commanded to act in the manner that the 1992 Constitution required of any responsible leader or President of the Republic of Ghana.
Therefore, no public figure was permitted to elevate himself above Ghanaian rules, according to Mr. Ofosu.
“It does not matter how sensitive your position is. Once Ghanaian law dictates that certain processes be undertaken in respect of some alleged misconduct, the rules must come to play.”
“So, any claim, any inference, any imputation of a political motive to the President in respect of these processes are unfounded, they are false and cannot be allowed to stand. And I wish to place that on record,” Mr Ofosu said.
He claimed that this was the sole tenet that President Mahama had followed during this entire ordeal.
Source: newsthemegh.com