Coup plotters sentenced to death by hanging will not be killed – Martin Kpebu explains

Martin Kpebu, whose client, Assistant Commissioner of Police (retired) Dr Benjamin Agordzo, was acquitted during the recent coup plot trial, said that the fact that convicted persons have been sentenced to death by hanging does not mean that they would be killed anytime soon, that is if they would be hanged at all.

He indicated that two hurdles stand in the way of the sentencing of the court being seen through, the first being the abolishment of the death sentence by several white papers of successive governments.

He added that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo himself has indicated that he would be sending bills to parliament for the amendment of the Criminal Office Act, 1960 (Act 29) which prescribes the death sentence to persons guilty of crimes like treason and other high crimes including murder.

“… We have decided as a nation that we want to do away with the death penalty so no president will ever issue any order for their execution. Remember that the (sic) administration issued a white paper after the Constitution Review Commission finished its work, and then JM’s administration issued a white paper accepting the abolishment of the death penalty.

“That white paper is binding on President Akufo-Addo. And President Akufo-Addo also even signed Act 1101, the abolishment of the death penalty in Act 29. So, you know that currently, murders, piracy and the other offences in the Criminal Offenses Act that used to attract the death penalty, all of those have been cancelled. They’ve been cancelled so they no longer attract the death penalty,” he explained.

He added, “So, all of this shows that once we abolished some of the laws and President Akufo-Addo himself has committed he will now send bills for the abolishment of the death penalty in the Armed Forces law, this shows that nobody is going to kill them.”

The second hurdle, Kpebu indicated, is that the sentencing would be carried out after several years of appeal.

“And these people, before you even contemplate killing them, they must first finish all their appeals and that’s not going to be within the next two years. So, killing them off is totally off the table. Yes, we’ve moved past that,” he stressed the point.

Background:

The six persons convicted for plotting a coup were sentenced to death by hanging in January 2024.

The six persons, including three soldiers, are; Donya Kafui, aka Ezor (a blacksmith) and Bright Alan Debrah Ofosu (a fleet manager), were found guilty of conspiracy to commit treason and treason, while Johannes Zikpi (a civilian employee of the Ghana Armed Forces) was found guilty of conspiracy to commit high treason.

The three soldiers – Warrant Officer II Esther Saan Dekuwine, Lance Corporal Ali Solomon, and Corporal Sylvester Akanpewon – were found guilty of conspiracy to commit high treason.

The judgment date was fixed on November 22, 2023, after the parties had all filed their respective written submissions.

Dr. Frederick Yao Mac-Palm, the Chief Executive Officer of Citadel Hospital (now deceased) and ACP Dr. Agordzo, together with eight others were charged variously on April 24, 2021, for conspiracy to commit high treason, abetment to high treason and high treason.

All 10 accused (then) pleaded not guilty and were granted bail.

However, following the death of Dr Mac-Palm (A1), who was then in the witness box giving testimony, his evidence was deleted from the records after his death was confirmed to the court.

Watch Martin Kpebu’s remarks in the video below: