The Managing Editor of the Dispatch newspaper says the current generation must be told the full story of how three judges were killed during the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) era.
Ben Ephson said when there are still movies about slave trade which happened thousands of years ago, telling the stories about the judges will only make Ghanaians know their history better.
“If you consider the fact that at the 2010 Housing and Population census, nearly 80 percent of the Ghanaians were below 40 years. So, by the time Liman was overthrown in December 1981, the oldest among the 80 percent was eight-years-old,” he said.
According to him, those saying airing such a documentary is unnecessary does not know the demographic statics about the country.
Editor of Dispatch newspaper, Ben Ephson
On the night of June 30, 1982, there was curfew instituted by the PNDC government.
Some three homes heard strange and persistent knocks on their doors, and when they opened…
Days later, news broke that three superior court judges and an ex-military officer had been abducted by unknown men.
Initial investigations revealed Justices Kwadwo Adjei Agyepong, Poku Sarkodie and Cecelia Koranteng-Addow were killed.
Later their charred bodies were found miles away from the capital, Accra. The people arrested and executed for the heinous crime said they were carrying out a national assignment.
Thirty-six years after the horrifying events, Joy News goes out to find out ‘Who killed The Judges’ documentary which airs Tuesday.
As the country awaits the broadcast of the documentary, there it has already court controversy with people saying it is needless to open wounds closed 36 years ago.
But Mr Ephson said airing the documentary is significant “because this is an event which was a bloat on the country’s history
He said for him, it was important that there were good investigators who were able to detect that the cars that were used, one was found at the State House, which led to a trail of investigations.
“It tells you that Ghana police investigators can do the job if they want to,” he said.
Mr Ephson maintains there’s more to the killings than the world was told.
According to him, the then Chairman of then PNDC, Jerry John Rawlings said the act had allegedly been committed by persons opposed to the government to give it a bad name.
“Personally, until there are other indications, those suspected to have been involved were executed, but I believe there was more to it,” he said.
Former National Media Commission Chair, Kabral Blay Amihere
Also commenting on the documentary, the former National Media Commission (NMC) Chair, Kabral Blay Amihere said for those who lost relatives, watching the documentary will be difficult.
“It was a national tragedy. I remember returning from a journey from Togo a day after the tragedy and there were lots of roadblocks. It divided the nation and took the country to the depth of barbarism.
“For those of us who lived in that era, it deepened the culture of silence because there was such a mystery on the happening,” he said.
According to him, the documentary should serve as a reminder to the nation never to go through that cycle again.
Mr Amihere hopes the documentary helps to bring a closure on the issue.
The documentary airs Tuesday, October 2, 2018, at 8:30 pm and you don’t want to miss it.
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