Ghana sentences six coup plotters to death

A court in Ghana has sentenced six people to death by hanging for their involvement in a plot to overthrow the government.

The alleged members of the Take Action Ghana were sentenced were found by the court to have planned demonstrations to topple President Nana Akufo-Addo’s government in 2021.

Those convicted and sentenced on January 24 include three soldiers. They are Donya Kafui (alias Ezor), Bright Allan Debrah Ofosu, Yohannes Zikpi, warrant officer class two Esther Saan Dekuwine, lance corporal Ali Solomon, and corporal Sylvester Akanpewon.

The court acquitted a police officer and two military personnel, saying there were no evidence against them. Police officer Benjamin Agordzo, who was acquitted, was accused of advocating for an “Arab spring” in Ghana. Arab Spring – a series of pro-democracy uprisings and protests — led to a change of governments in several countries in the Middle East.

Following his acquittal, a jubilant Mr Agordzo said: “We give glory to God. He alone has made it happen. They knew it was falsehood. Our God doesn’t fail. I have always been free within my heart and I knew how it was going to end,” according to The Africa Report.

Not guilty

All six convicts pleaded not guilty. The defence lawyer, Victor Adawudu, said he would appeal the sentence.

Attorney general Godfred Yeboah Dame, who led the prosecution, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the trial, telling journalists after the judgment that “if these convicts were not arrested, only God knows what would have happened to this country”.

The suspects were apprehended in 2019. The government said the convicts used a local hospital as their base, and guns, grenades, explosives and ammunitions were recovered from them during arrest.

Authorities said security operatives infiltrated their ranks, tapped their phones and recorded conversations in connection with the crime.

No execution

Ghana abolished capital punishment for other crimes such as murder and smuggling in August 2023, but retained the death penalty for treason.

The country has not carried out any executions since returning to democracy in 1992. Some 176 persons, including six women, have been on death row in Ghana, according to government records.

A treason trial has not taken place in Ghana since 1966, following the coup of the country’s first president Kwame Nkrumah.