Forty-three years ago, Ghana witnessed an unprecedented action orchestrated by a military junta.
Those were heady days in our post- independence history when a group of our compatriots overthrew a democratically elected government.
The commemoration of this dark side of the country’s history on Monday should remind us that, as a nation we should never go on this tangent again.
It was the most brutish act to be carried out in a country known for its tolerance and peace.
Reports which emanated after painstaking investigation showed that envy and vengeance drove those who orchestrated the act to do what they did, the brains behind which act stayed behind the curtains.
A group of persons at the helm at the time considered the martyred judges as unworthy of living, representing as they did the judiciary. Were it possible at the time to eliminate all members of the bench, the blood-thirsty gang would have done so.
Their message nonetheless sank in – they would not tolerate conventional justice, for theirs was a kangaroo justice which they administered as they deemed fit at the time.
Never again should we allow the judiciary to be so maltreated simply because their work does not please somebody or a group.
We doubt if those who orchestrated the murder of the judges are alive. Whoever they were, they too are no longer alive perhaps, and already meeting the ultimate divine justice in the hereafter.
When the suspended Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo recently addressed the media about not her predicament but the rule of law, she reminded all perhaps inadvertently about that dark spot in our nation’s history.
It is regrettable that even after four decades and available convincing reports about what happened, politically aligned persons to the government would seek to downplay the subject.
It is a fact that the NDC is an offshoot of that junta. It is also on record that the President once told the people of this country that when it comes to violence, their political party born out of a revolution cannot be outdone. How sad!
Today, the busts of the three High Court judges who were martyred stand prominently at the forecourt of the Supreme Court as a reminder about what recklessness and vengeance can result in.
While there is the need to move forward by putting the past behind us, we nonetheless must constantly make reference to such episodes so that those at the helm would be guided sufficiently in their management of their stewardship, especially their relationship with the judiciary.
The independence of the judiciary is sacrosanct no matter the circumstances.
When however traits of the executive seeking to overstretch its arms to weaken judicial independence as being witnessed today, we must shout out at the trespassers to halt in their dangerous strides.
Not doing so would be tantamount to ignoring the lessons offered by the criminality of June 30, 1982.
There is no outstanding tribute we can give to the memory of the murdered judges besides safeguarding the independence of the judiciary regardless of the circumstances.
