Six Ghanaians, including three soldiers, have been sentenced to death for plotting a coup against the Nana Addo-Bawumia led government in Ghana.
The persons sentenced; 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 by a High Court decision.
Also, 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.
This becomes the first treason trial in Ghana since 1966 when post-independence leader Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown.
The six persons were arrested in 2021 while testing weapons in the Ghana’s capital, Accra, to allegedly topple the government but the accused persons pleaded not guilty.
But the court said it found evidence against the men, including intercepted communications and testimonies, compelling.
Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, who led the prosecution, praised the court verdict saying “the constitution of Ghana as the fundamental law of the country, which has sustained the stability of the nation, frowns seriously upon any attempt to overthrow a government and that is why that offence [treason] is punishable by death.”
However, an Assistant Commissioner of Police Benjamin Agordzo, Colonel Samuel Kodzo Gameli, and a junior military officer, Corporal Seidu Abubakar were acquitted.
The judgment was issued by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, Justice Hafisata Amaleboba and Justice Stephen Oppong on Wednesday, Jan. 24.