The Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Bar Association convened judges, lawyers, clergy, and dignitaries for a solemn liturgy honouring Justices Cecilia Afran Koranteng-Addow, Kwadwo Adjei Agyepong, and Fred Opoku Sarkodie, while also remembering the Bar’s departed members.

Forty-four years ago three eminent justices of Ghana’s Superior Courts were abducted from their homes in the dead of night and summarily executed, the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Bar Association (B/A Bar) led the legal fraternity of the three regions in a solemn Martyrs’ Day and Remembrance Service, bringing together judges, lawyers, clergy, and the wider public in an act of liturgical and civic remembrance.

The service, centred on the enduring witness of Justices Cecilia Afran Koranteng-Addow, Kwadwo Adjei Agyepong, and Fred Opoku Sarkodie, was presided over by Very Rev. Fr. Thomas Oppong Febiri, representing Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, Bishop of Sunyani, as Principal Celebrant. In its welcome address, the B/A Bar warmly received the congregation to “today’s Martyrs’ Day and Remembrance Service,” presenting the occasion as a shared witness of the Bench, the Bar, and the Church.

A Liturgy Led by the Judiciary

One of the most remarkable features of this year’s commemoration was the active participation of serving members of the Judiciary in the sacred liturgy.

The First Reading (1 John 1:5–2:2) was proclaimed by Her Ladyship Winnie Amoatey-Owusu, Justice of the High Court, Sunyani. The Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 124), with its poignant refrain, “Our soul has escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler,” was led by Her Ladyship Eleanor Kakra Barnes-Botchway, also a Justice of the High Court, Sunyani.

The Second Reading (Daniel 3:15–18), recounting the steadfast witness of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego before King Nebuchadnezzar, was read by His Lordship Harry Acheampong-Opoku, Justice of the High Court.

The Gospel (Matthew 2:13–18), narrating the Massacre of the Innocents, was proclaimed by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Bediako, Catholic priest, Prison Officer, and Chaplain of Sunyani Central Prison, before the homily.

The Prayer of the Faithful was offered by Nicholas Ofori Esq. of Nana Obiri Boahen, Ansah & Associates on behalf of the Ghana Bar Association; His Lordship Nathan Parker Yarney, Justice of the High Court, Sunyani, for the nation; and His Honour Nana Asibey Osei, Circuit Court Judge, Techiman, for the Judiciary.

Three Lives Recalled

At the heart of the celebration were the Biography Readings, during which the Supervising High Court Judges from the Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regions recounted the lives and judicial legacies of the three martyred judges.

Her Ladyship Joyce Boahen, Supervising High Court Judge for the Bono Region, narrated the life of Mrs Justice Cecilia Afran Koranteng-Addow, born at Assin Nsuta in 1936. From her legal education at the University of Hull and her call to the English Bar to her appointment to Ghana’s High Court Bench in 1975, she emerged as one of only three women serving on the Superior Courts at the time.

Special attention was given to her landmark judgment in Republic v. Director of Prisons and Another; Ex parte Shackleford, delivered during the turbulent AFRC era, where she affirmed that even revolutionary governments remained subject to the rule of law and the enduring norms of legality.

“Mrs Justice Cecilia Afran Koranteng-Addow will be remembered for her robust and alert mind, courage of conviction, impeccable integrity, keen sense of justice, and firm control of her court. She was a deeply religious mother, wife and judge.” — Inscription, Supreme Court Building, Accra

His Lordship Joseph Adu-Owusu Agyeman, Supervising High Court Judge for the Bono East Region, presented the life of Mr Justice Kwadwo Adjei Agyepong, born at Oyoko in the Ashanti Region in 1926. A distinguished alumnus of Mfantsipim School and later the Inner Temple, he served as a teacher to, among others, the late Vice-President J. W. de Graft Johnson and the late Chief Justice L. K. Abban before his elevation to the High Court Bench in 1977.

Justice Agyepong was remembered for serving on the historic Transitional Supreme Court in the constitutional case between the PNP Government and Dr Kwame Amoako Tuffour. His leadership of the Committee of Inquiry into the Accra Railway Shooting was also recalled, particularly his warning against “the unwarranted use of firearms” against peaceful demonstrators—a warning that proved tragically prophetic of his own fate barely two years later.

His Lordship Peter Oppong-Boahen, Supervising High Court Judge for the Ahafo Region, recounted the life of Mr Justice Fred Opoku Sarkodie, born in Koforidua in 1927. Educated at Adisadel College, Fourah Bay College, and later the Middle Temple in London, he was appointed to the High Court Bench in 1971.

Justice Sarkodie was celebrated as a jurist well ahead of his time in matters concerning matrimonial property. As early as 1976—almost a decade before the Intestate Succession Law (PNDC Law 111)—he ruled that a wife’s substantial contribution to marital property could never be dismissed as merely “assistance to her husband.”

Voices of the Bar

Following the Liturgy of the Eucharist, Alexander Amponsah Esq., President of the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Bar Association, delivered the Message of the Bar.

Andrew Oduro, Esq., of Wiredu Peprah, Oduro & Co., acknowledged the distinguished guests. At the same time, the Vote of Thanks was delivered by Maame Adjoa Dufie Osei, Esq., Assistant State Attorney in the Office of the Attorney-General. The celebration concluded with a commemorative photograph bringing together members of the Bench and the Bar.

Remembering the Bar’s Own Departed

In a moving gesture, the B/A Bar extended the day’s remembrance beyond the three judicial martyrs by honouring its own departed members.

Among those remembered were I. K. Adjei-Mensah, Otu-Essel K. F., Patrick Yeboah Asiamah, A. A. Munufie, Kwabena Obeng Manu, Michael Faraday Oppong, W. Y. Oppong, D. K. Brefo, Dr. S. K. Ankamah, Kofi Gyambrah, Appea-Kubi, Akwasi Arhin, and all others “resting peacefully with the Lord.”

The tribute thanked them for their “tireless service to the B/A Bar and the nation,” acknowledging that their advocacy, guidance, kindness, and warmth remain deeply cherished, and concluded simply: “Your legacies live on.

A Homily on Light, Courage and Faith

In his homily, Fr. Thomas Oppong Febiri situated the day’s commemoration within the Church’s theology of martyrdom. He recalled that, among the Twelve Apostles, only St. John escaped a violent death, while the Church had celebrated the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul only the previous day.

Building his reflection around the day’s three readings, he described martyrdom as the triumph of light over darkness, courage over oppressive power, and faith over fear. Drawing from the witness of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, he challenged the congregation to resist every modern “golden statue” demanding compromise. Reflecting on Herod’s massacre of the innocents, he warned that fear, when left unchecked, becomes fertile ground for injustice.

Turning to the legal profession itself, Fr. Oppong Febiri acknowledged that lawyers had at various moments in history defended slavery, while judges elsewhere had legitimised unjust systems such as apartheid. Yet, he insisted, such failures never invalidate the nobility of the legal vocation, just as the sins of Christians do not invalidate the Gospel.

He concluded with a searching examination of conscience on judicial independence, corruption, and impunity, before leading the congregation in the Lawyer’s Prayer, traditionally attributed to St. Thomas More, Patron of Lawyers and Statesmen, asking God that no one should ever win a point and lose his soul.

Gratitude and Continuing Witness

In its closing remarks, the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Bar Association expressed profound gratitude to the Catholic Diocese of Sunyani, the Judiciary, sponsors, members of the political class, institutional heads, the families of departed lawyers, students, and all who participated in the service.

Forty-four years after the tragic events of 30 June 1982, the annual commemoration remains a permanent fixture on Ghana’s civic and ecclesial calendar—a powerful renewal, at the meeting point of Bench, Bar and Altar, of the enduring conviction that justice is never cheap, truth is never convenient, and freedom is never without sacrifice.

Reported by Rev. Fr. Isaac Peh
Director of Communications
Catholic Diocese of Sunyani