Ghana gov't assures judges of improved security amid death threats

The Ghanaian government said on Monday that it was taking steps to enhance the personal security of judges to enable them to discharge their functions without fear or favor.

A statement issued by Prosper Bani, minister for the Interior also noted the upsurge in inflammatory rhetoric against key managers of the electoral process calculated to compromise their independence and security, adding the government was taking steps to further improve their personal security.

The assurances come a few days after two individuals Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn reportedly made death threats during a radio discussion.

The two warned the judges of Ghana's highest court to be wary of their conduct in the case involving the electoral commission and a youth activist if they did not want to suffer the fate of the three members of the bench who were shot to death and burnt on June 30, 1982 under a military administration.

The said high court judges and a retired officer were kidnapped from their homes and murdered.

The comments of the two panelists have received widespread condemnation, with the Ghana Bar Association calling on the Inspector General of Police to cause investigation of those matters and prosecute them.

Nelson has since apologized for those comments.

But they are in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations for questioning.

"Indeed government wishes to assure the general public that it will not shirk its responsibility to protect the peace and security of the country," said Bani.

The Supreme Court will give its final verdict on the electoral roll case on July 5. Endit