NRC States Position

The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) has dismissed submissions that it does not have the mandate to investigate the murder of the three High Court Judges and retired Major of the Ghana Army in 1982. It maintained that investigations into the murder of the three High Court Judges and the retired Army Officer fall within its mandate.

Mr. Doe Adjaho, the Minority Chief Whip has submitted to the Network Herald in its Friday, February 6, 2004 edition that the Commission did not have the mandate to reopen investigations in the 1982 murder of three High Court Judges and a retired Major of the Ghana Army.

According to him, to the extent that certain persons were tried by a court of competent jurisdiction and punished, any fresh evidence with regards to that matter should be submitted to relevant state agencies for investigation and possible prosecution. The Commission however, disagreed with the submission and accused the Minority Front Bencher of misinforming the public about the functions of the Commission. Below is the full text of the Commission?s rejoinder. The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) has taken note of the interview Hon. Doe Adjaho, Minority Chief Whip, granted to the Network Herald Newspaper and reported in the Friday, February 6, 2004 edition of the same paper.

In the said publication, Hon Adjaho made statements to the effect that, the Commission does not have the mandate to investigate the murder of the three High Court Judges and army office in 1982 because it is purely a criminal case.

The Minority Chief Whip went ahead to quote the National Reconciliation Commission Act, 2002, Act 611 which deals with incriminating evidence by witnesses and said, if persons who have testified before the Commission cannot be prosecuted in a court of competent jurisdiction then it would be preposterous to think what use hearing of the case involving the murder of the judges and the army officer, which is purely criminal case, would be to the nation.

Hon. Adjaho also criticized the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Ken Attefuah, for suggesting that evidence from witnesses on the murder of the four would enable the Commission to decided whether to recommend to the government the prosecution of any persons, He described it as not only misleading but also flies in the face of the Act 611 especially because the Commission has no power to prosecute.